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by azza-bazoo 5083 days ago
Wow. Hopefully this will give Gmail the kick in the pants it needs ... the interface really hasn't changed that much since the early days.

(Well, of course it's been prettified a bit, but besides a few things like Priority Inbox there have been scant few changes to the interaction. And I always liked that using Sparrow felt different to using the Gmail web interface.)
2 comments
radarsat1 5083 days ago
> the interface really hasn't changed that much since the early days.

And why should it? I haven't used Sparrow, but I have no problems with gmail. How is it different / better?

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BlackNapoleon 5083 days ago
GMail has changed A LOT since its early days. What are you talking about?

Gmail is pretty much perfect and the Labs additions can basically give you a "Sparrow-like" window and viewing pane already.

APPLE needs these improvements, not google.

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azza-bazoo 5083 days ago
> Gmail is pretty much perfect

There isn't any room for improvement in Gmail? Really? It's still using the same basic design of every email client since forever (labels/mailboxes at the left, inbox shows a time-sorted list of messages, click through a message to read).

Meanwhile Sparrow showed what was possible if you sit down and at least tried to rethink the email interface -- with things like gestures, or by shifting towards streams rather than lists.

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BlackNapoleon 5083 days ago
Google invented the entire notion of email streams. Did you forget that?

People weren't used to seeing emails that followed like IM conversations.

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azza-bazoo 5081 days ago
... which still doesn't excuse them not running with the idea and continuing to improve. Sparrow did; maybe I should have said "shifting further".

(And yes, Gmail popularized conversation view, but it was talked about at IBM Research and Microsoft Research years earlier. Of course, those guys are even worse at delivering innovative interfaces.)

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pfortuny 5083 days ago
"pretty much perfect"... Wow. In what of the 2^160 senses of 'perfect'?
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