Boz just finished his presentation. I don't think this lived up to the hype people generated for it. It seems just like combining chat and messages and introducing a message history. I'm sure there were some huge backend changes, but I don't know how much this will change the experience for the average user.
I agree, I think that this is a system or application that fb is trying to use to expand its user base and make fb an "integral part of the internet" instead of just another friendster and myspace type of platform.
But, realistically I don't think that email is going away for a while because its entrenched into people's habits and it provides control.
If you were to use fb's system to replace your email then you'd effectively relinquish your control over your data to fb (again).
Notedly, I want to disclaim that fb is POS. lol. I truly hate fb because of its practices and that its essentially a giant time sink without purpose. I registered my name and deactivated my account just so that no one else would use my name but I don't use it.
I don't think that email is going away for a while because its entrenched into people's habits and it provides control.
That, and people don't seem to dislike it. Seriously, no one I know is frustrated with e-mail as a medium for communication. (Spam used to be a problem, but that was only because it got in the way of sending and receiving e-mail.)
E-mail is one of the greatest technological innovations of all time--can you think of another gadget used by a six-year old, a 106-year old, and everyone in between? Even the web doesn't quite qualify. The snail mail metaphor works, and people like it. As Wave demonstrated, the 99% of non-edge cases (none of whom work at Google) are not pining for increased levels of interaction, organization or complication when it comes to messaging. Mark Zuckerberg's criticism of e-mail, that it is too formal (or whatever), sounds like a guy with a hammer in search of a nail.
But then again, what do I know? As a non-Facebook user, I'm not exactly in the majority, and FB has proved me wrong on these issues time and again :-)
Just for clarification - I'm not trashing on Facebook. I think there are a lot of legitimate uses for it and for a lot of people it's a great tool. Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean it's a POS and something you should "truly hate." While I'm somewhat disappointed this event didn't live up to the hype people generated for it, I don't think this is going to bring about the fall of civilization.
I think it works great for what it is a database of photos and random stuff in general. But, I don't think that it's an effective use of time and it's being used currently mostly for stalking friends and whatnot. Which is fine, but the main issue is that the company has questionable privacy policies and a monopoly on our data.
Obviously this is an issue with many companies but none are as evident as facebook and google. Facebook has time and again shown that it has little regard for our privacy unless there's a major outcry. Even then their reaction is often to late to little.
Again for those reasons I truly hate fb and for that reason its a pos. Clearly, these are my opinions and I'm not trying to forcing anyone to comform to my opinions. It's just a small rant into space lol.
In general I'm very hesitant to speak so negatively about a company, but this is one of those few rare exceptions that I feel strongly enough about it to say something. That's all = D
For many under the age of 20, email has already gone away. They think of it like we think of our (physical) mailbox. It's slow, it's filled with junk, it's something you check once per day but it's not where the bulk of daily activity happens. And it's quaint when grandma sends you one there.
Email will stay like the physical mailbox will stay. (Much more important for business than pleasure.)
Seems like it's a system for your friends. Their focus isn't for things like your bank account or anything else. It's very similar to email, but due to their knowledge of your friends they can simplify the white/black lists and prioritize communications.
Still a little fuzzy on the details but it sounds like its not supposed to replace email, but instead enhance it with an overlay service?
My understanding is that Email is being replaced for many (younger peeps) by SMS, IM and Facebook messaging already. Its funny when I look at it I actually rarely send notes to friends with my personal email anymore. Email has become my professional way to communicate but with Friends and Family its fading away. It looks like Facebook is trying to capitalize on this trend by adding an overlay on top of all those services.
I have to say this is really in some ways more interesting then an Fmail announcment.
It's strange to me that some people don't use email. It seems unavoidable at this point in time.
Some of important things that go through my email In box are my order statuses from online stores, bill reminders/confirmations, password reset emails from website.. It's seems so hard to avoid email unless you don't do any of those things.
It doesn't seem to be really merging communications, but trying to separate it out between friends and other. It seems dangerous that any important emails go to your fb account since it might get dumped into the 'other' folder and possibly not get looked at for along time or never. People won't be getting rid of their other (work/personal) accounts, so fb is really just another account that they'll have to check.
My takeaway is that it's a bit like how your smart phone will wrap in your IM and SMS messages to a person in the same list interface.
I'm guessing this will be something where you select a person you know, and up pops a list of all of the interactions you've had with them in one stream.
Seems like it might work, if it's seamless enough. Saying it's "email" or an "email killer" is being short-sighted -- it's giving you a stream for an individual.
In my mind (and maybe I missed some aspect of the Facebook announcement) Wave was much more ambitious due to the collaborative document editing aspect, absolutely realtime interaction, and open architecture/apis that allowed for things such as bots and interaction from external systems.
It seems that Facebook's system has some of the same elements/ideas as Wave, but I wouldn't say it fills the same space as wave.
So this is more Twitter and MSN territory than Gmails's.
I feel that there has been some space for a MSN replacement for a while. Microsof lack of innovation of MSN is a sign.
(Wave tried to get it but failed though)
