[fleitz]

Google is good at algorithms, not software used by humans.

Search is better than anyone else because the algorithms are better, Bing is much prettier.

Same thing with AdSense no one can touch the CTR of adsense. Would anyone ever WANT to use the AdSense interface? No.

Gmail was great because they figured out how to do giant inboxes at scale for cheap (and had awesome spam filtering), again, the strength was algorithms. Not because "OMG this is the best interface for email evar."

Google could beat Apple on the iPhone if there was some algorithm that just 'knew' who you wanted to call and whether you wanted to call. Imagine a phone where you just opened it and it pulled up magically whatever you wanted to do. That or some other great algorithmic feature could overcome the horrid interface.

Google wins on algorithms and loses everywhere else.

[eberfreitas]

I personally think that Gmail's web interface is the best email client out there nowadays. I can't find any desktop software or webapp that is nearly as good, but that is my 2 cents.

[gnufied]

Agreed. I haven't played with new UI too much yet, but the gmail interface was probably among the best web interfaces. And things just worked. It wasn't about 2GB limit per se (but it did create the buzz)

[falling]

If you are a Mac user, Lion's Mail is the first desktop client I can tolerate since April 2004.

[beej71]

> Google wins on algorithms and loses everywhere else.

Android's notification system is widely considered superior to the one Apple came up with. (I only bring that up as a single counterexample, because that's all that is needed against "everywhere".)

Speaking as a techie with his first Android phone, I'm completely pleased. I have a device that doesn't seem to treat my engineer self as some kind of enemy intruder.

But I'd allow that to fit sensibly with your claim about "not being used by humans".