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Inbox 2.0 Makes Me Sad

techcrunch.com — Saul Hansell at the The New York Times is reporting that both Yahoo and Google are planning to use their email services as the core of their social networking strategy over time. Of course, by social network, they mean Facebook and MySpace. Not the already vibrant social networking that already goes on daily via my email inbox…no, we’re talking

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  • Cooperfan, on 11/15/2007, -3/+15I don't understand why some companies just can't stick with what they are good at. Let Microsoft stop with its live search and let it stick to it's OS's, and if Yahoo fails multiple times, it should just stop trying, and do something they ARE good at.
    • kbedell, on 11/15/2007, -8/+3.
    • Canada4Life, on 11/15/2007, -11/+14Microsoft is good at OS's?
      • ArmandoM, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2With 90% or so of all personal computers running some version of Windows, I'd say that somebody thinks so.
    • sockpuppets, on 11/15/2007, -3/+15What's Yahoo good at again? I haven't been there in like 5 years.
      • mercurysquad, on 11/15/2007, -3/+5Instant Messaging
      • aaronm67, on 11/15/2007, -1/+6They have a good news site, fantasy sports, and online games. Their web-based email client is also a lot nicer then gmail's, and they are a fairly popular web-hosting service. Also, their "answers" service is very popular.
      • Lightspeed2, on 11/15/2007, -4/+1news, sports, email (unlimited storage), search, list goes on and on, youre a google fanboy
      • darnit, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3yahoo finance is good.
      • Schneckehaus, on 11/15/2007, -0/+4Don't forget that they own flickr and delicious.
        Pretty big sites.
        Yahoo mail is alright s well, although I still prefer my gmail.
      • mithrasinvictus, on 11/15/2007, -1/+1Assisting the Chinese government in arresting dissidents?
    • TH3W1R3D, on 11/15/2007, -1/+8Competition is good for consumers like us.
    • erickh, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2Have you heard of economics?
    • Lightspeed2, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2competition is good idi*t, is live search bothering you? ***** if anything its helping you, they are taking a loss just to have their live search contests

      • AnthonyA7, on 11/15/2007, -0/+4Censoring 'idiot'- that's a new one.
  • kbedell, on 11/15/2007, -1/+21It's the Corporate Bladder Syndrome -- the more cash they have, the more pressure they feel to Piss It All Away.
  • numberneal, on 11/15/2007, -1/+5it's a lack of focus from which most companies start to suffer after a few years of success;
    coke - coke zero; new coke: original coke outsells both; new coke is out of the market;
    blockbuster video - blockbuster music: the music entity ultimately tanked;
    true market leaders find success on their core product or service offering;
    • iFrikkenR, on 11/15/2007, -0/+7I was so glad to find Vanilla Coke back on the shelves the other week. God i missed that stuff...
    • FredSpeaking, on 11/15/2007, -1/+31. Buy Coke
      2. Add icing sugar
      • AnthonyA7, on 11/15/2007, -1/+1Good thing I carry packets of icing sugar with me everywhere.
    • saifatlast, on 11/15/2007, -1/+2Coke Zero is a good thing, as are several of the various other cokes.
    • unrealmp3, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1I don't mind Coke Zero, it's still taste better than Diet Coke. The original Coke however is the best though.

      @iFrikkenR
      I can't find Vanilla Coke at my current location :(
    • jwietelmann, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1Actually "New Coke" is often cited as possibly one of the most brilliant marketing moves in of all time. When "Coke Classic" came back, it flew off the shelves at an alarming rate. Whether or not this was Coca-Cola's intention all along is still debated.
  • monkeestylee, on 11/15/2007, -3/+21can't i just have plain old email anymore?
    • sockpuppets, on 11/15/2007, -1/+4Let's get stamps and postcards and be each other's pen pal.
    • mercurysquad, on 11/15/2007, -0/+6Nope. *Everything* must go social. [like email wasn't social enough]
    • rajamouli2000, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2With all the growing junk on the webmail interface, we should stick to pop/imap access. Oh ya...yahoo is screwed up enough not provide those features unless u pay.
      • Schneckehaus, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1I wouldn't mind integrating my myspace and facebook messages with my email, since they basically are the same thing. Also would like instant messaging integrated with that too, since, once again, its the same ***** thing.

        That being said, I don't want any of the features of them phased out, I just want them all amalgamated for convenience.

        Now only if Gmail didnt load so ***** slow...
  • bulltradamus, on 11/15/2007, -0/+7I like my old school e-mail as much as the next guy but I love innovation just as much and if companies lose money in their attempts to make my life easier or more fun then let them I am not a shareholder. If Apple stuck to personal computers we would not have the iPod, if Microsoft stuck to software no one would have an Xbox. Think about the beautiful future we have before you yell at Avant Garde companies.
  • HerrEisenheim, on 11/15/2007, -2/+21I've been "socially networking" with email since Web 0.87 Beta. You see, I have a list of email addresses of people that I know, and they also have mine. We can contact each other and send each other messages (very similar to what you can do with Facebook). We can even send each other pictures. Not a lot of people know this is possible, as they assume that email is just used to receive notifications about pills and creams you can buy to enlarge your penis, but it's a hidden feature of email that's been there all along.

    The more you know!
    • Bamborzled, on 11/15/2007, -0/+6But, but but, can I pimp out my email profile page with eye-blinding black-and-purple colour schemes, several songs playing on the page at the same time, and pictures I took of myself when I was drunk at my office party? I didn't think so!
      • xdcc, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1Well if you use a major provider of free email like google or yahoo at least you can still get the data-mining.
  • charlesray, on 11/15/2007, -3/+2You can determine the relative popularity of Gmail and Yahoo Mail just by numbers of users. There was a time when the only real webmail was Yahoo and Hotmail. I don't know anyone who doesn't currently have a Yahoo account (keep in mind that anybody who signs up for anything on Yahoo has an email account, and Yahoo requires a lot more registration that Google), and I probably have at least five.
    • rajamouli2000, on 11/15/2007, -0/+0of the 250 million odd registered accounts in yahoo atleast 25% is a junk only inbox. Its always something@yahoo.com for free porn sign ups
  • Wo1ke, on 11/15/2007, -6/+2The real advancements of inbox 2.0 are already here in the form of xobni.com. Far superior to anything either google or yahoo (plan to) offer.
  • lOvOl, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3The problem with "upgrading" email is that email's success is due in large part to being simple and ubiquitous and standardized. Though most mail clients nowadays are capable of reading HTML mail, as well as pictures and other attachments, there was a time when people would send you email and all you end up seeing on your mail reader is HTML tags. Unless there is a real standard for these kinds of services, then the only thing that using upgraded email does for you is put you on an island where you can only send email to people who are also on your island. To me, that just is not worth it.

    On top of that, email sucks. Though spam filtering is a lot better, you still can't really use your email address publicly or else it will get harvested by some bot out there and the next thing you know you are receiving every kind of spam imaginable.
  • funktimus, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3If google brings back the messenger pigeon and combines it somehow with gmail, I'll be the first to stand up and applaud. If they're going to saturate the market with another abysmal networking hybrid while so many already exist, they can honestly go F themselves.
  • Burmask, on 11/15/2007, -1/+2You have a choice whether you want to use gmail or not.
  • miyamotofreak, on 11/15/2007, -2/+4Honestly Gmail is goddamn perfect right now. Does EVERYTHING I want it to do and does it in a very minimalist UI. I love it.
  • bruck, on 11/15/2007, -0/+0That article forgot to mention yahoo's recent acquisition of "Upcoming" the social network calendar sharing site. haha
  • vengefuldrx, on 11/15/2007, -1/+1constant bool Web2point0_sucks = true;
  • TechBharat, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1sickosocial.
  • solid12345, on 11/15/2007, -0/+1Honestly will there be a day when people's hands lock up and shake when they are asked to write their name or a letter with a pen. Everybody types everything nowadays.
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