Gmail has upped the ante by offering IMAP access. At least for me. It’s probable that this is inconsequential for most people, but this is something I’ve been hoping for a very long time now. Lack of IMAP was the major reason I held off on making gmail my primary email service.This also ups the ante on Yahoo and Microsoft, both of whom offer only limited pop3 access (Yahoo, if you pay. Hotmail if you use Windows Mail Live or pay.). Again, for the common user, not a big deal. But for the hardcore user, IMAP is pretty huge.
Oct
3
So way back in the day, I noted that closed messaging was retarded and it’d make more sense for an SNS to align with a major email provider, or vice versa to gain/steal new users. Fmail is a Facebook app sort of gives you a retarded stepchild glimpse of this execution, except that I would never use it due to security concerns and general uselessness. The point is not to simply embed an email system as a separate entity to a closed messaging system, but to replace it completely. (Through no fault of the application’s developers, as they’re just doing their thing. It seems fine for what it’s supposed to do.)Previously Facebook noted that you can now send messages to non-Facebook users by sending it to their email address. That’s like a half-step in the right direction, except it’s inconvenient for the non-user since they have to click on a link to get the message. It’s sort of like if you called a person but wouldn’t talk to them until they came over to your house to pick up on the other line. Thanks, but no thanks, you jerk.But if they would ingrain the email service as an integral part of the messaging system it’s a win-win for everyone. SNS gets a foothold with a larger audience base, increased user interaction numbers, and more advertising revenue sharing opportunities, while the email provider, e.g., Yahoo, Microsoft, Google gets the hot SNS interaction they’ve all been clamoring and offering billions of dollars for, not to mention a very good foot in the door to steal new users, and additional user data to fatten their search intelligence (which is all they really want in the end), and the SNS/email user doesn’t have random messages from various friends coming from various directions. Om Malik touched on this when he asked if email was the ultimate social environment. Oh, I’m sure there’s sharing issues that get in the way, i.e., how to share advertising revenue. But it just seems like it makes perfect sense. Which is why it’ll probably never happen.
