

Group email address. Did 37signals copy my idea? - endtwist
http://ninjasandrobots.com/group-email-address

======
blhack
What the hell is any of this talking about?

Both of you "copied" postfix's "alias_maps" feature, which is what I can only
assume has been a standard feature since the beginning of mail server time.
Back when I was running our mail for my company (we've since switched to
Google Apps), I had several entires in alias_maps that were like:

"managers@example.com" |
"ryan@example.com,aaron@example.com,alyson@example.com,macy@example.com"

etc.

(Perhaps I'm misunderstanding this, but from your website it sounds like
you're just describing a mailing list)

~~~
mikeash
Came here to post the same thing. Basecamp Breeze looks like a subscription
service for the standard listserv functionality that dates back to slightly
after the invention of the wheel. Is there something about this service that
makes it different, or do people actually think that creating an e-mail
address that redistributes messages to other e-mail addresses is something
new?

~~~
nate
Thanks for the comments guys. Actually, that's a big point of what I'm writing
here. These ideas just keep getting copied and morphed into something else.
It's ok to copy. It's ok to try and make it your own without being petrified
someone else is already doing it.

Many people using tgethr or breeze don't know how to setup a listserv. I've
got my in laws on tgethr. They don't understand how to even attach files to
their emails. Google groups doesn't highlight code fragments I send to other
developers. There's all sorts of things like that where 37signals and I are
trying to copy these old ideas and make them our own.

~~~
webwanderings
I mentioned this earlier when this story showed up at HN and I would say this
again. There could be plethora of such services out there but until and unless
they provide a seamless migration utility (to move stuff out of
Yahoogroups/Googlegroups) none of them would be of any help.
Yahoo/Googlegroups are huge because people have been using them for a very
long time and nobody in the right mind would attempt to use any unknown
service for listserv and archiving.

~~~
nate
Very true. And vice versa is actually a pretty neat idea. Youngme Moon who I
mention in the article has a book called Different which I highly recommend.
She's got a bit in there about differentiating yourself by making it insanely
easy for people to leave your service. Most folks make it hard to even find a
cancel link (I know I've been guilty of this), let alone make it super easy to
move their data out into a competitor.

It's on my priority list actually for some future projects to make it super
easy to quit and migrate data out of my stuff to a competitor.

~~~
rhizome
_She's got a bit in there about differentiating yourself by making it insanely
easy for people to leave your service._

Are there any examples of this leading to success?

~~~
mikeash
Gmail seems like a decent example. Unlike a lot of other webmail providers,
they made it easy to access your e-mail with a standard e-mail client and
thereby download your full archives. With Google Apps, you can use Gmail on
your own domain and switch away whenever you want by just re-pointing your MX
record. I use Gmail on my own domain for my main e-mail, and could switch away
in an instant if I wanted to.

~~~
nate
Ah yeah, that's a great example. In fact, if I remember right, Gmail has
always been a lot more friendly with getting mail out of gmail than services
like hotmail and yahoo mail have (doesn't Yahoo still delete inactive account
email?). I think by now hotmail and yahoo have tried to follow suit, but I
think that was another reason people gravitated toward gmail (though minor
compared to space and great web ui). It just seemed like if it sucked, no
harm. I still have all my mail.

~~~
mikeash
Pretty sure it was there from the start, yes. People remember how
revolutionary it was for the storage and UI, but making client access
available for free was just as big of a deal at the time. I'd never use a
service that didn't provide that, so it certainly was a big factor in getting
me to use Gmail, and I imagine the same is true for a lot of others. Certainly
seems to have worked out for them.

------
feralmoan
> Did 37signals copy my idea?

No. Distribution lists have been basic features of MTA's (postfix, qmail,
exchange) for decades.

link bait. Does 37Signals even know Tgethr exists?

------
TomJoad
Reminds me of when DropBox "copied" my idea of automatically uploading every
picture you took from your phone. Mine was a web-app with mobile component.
The idea was to make it so easy you would never have to think about it. I even
had plans that it would create albums for you based upon dates or locations. I
was in the middle of writing the application when DropBox released their
upload every picture you take service, shortly followed by many others.

~~~
webwanderings
DropBox's idea (your idea, or whoever) is a genius idea. The ability to use
your phone or tablet to take pictures and not worry about backing it up
(because the app does it all for you) is a priceless experience.

