Gmail Launches Add-ons(blog.google)
blog.google
Gmail Launches Add-ons
https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/do-more-your-inbox-gmail-add-ons/
236 comments
Came to post this as well. Inbox is a great product, but it seems to have been forgotten - probably because most of the users still use gmail, since getting "normies" to switch to anything is near impossible without social pressure being some contributor to the switch. Plus, Gmail still has a ton of features that were never ported over, which will also prevent some advanced users who rely on these features consistently, from switching.
Inbox is in a weird place - the features we want in Gmail are in Inbox. The features we want in Inbox are in Gmail. The mails are in the same place. The web clients are separate codebases. I can't imagine all the talented people working at either team are happy with this situation given the way their contributions end up not coming to us users because of this separation. If anyone here is on either team, or has some insight into this, I'd really like to understand what the thinking is behind this stuff. The same sort of goes for Allo, Hangouts, etc. What gives, Google?
Inbox is in a weird place - the features we want in Gmail are in Inbox. The features we want in Inbox are in Gmail. The mails are in the same place. The web clients are separate codebases. I can't imagine all the talented people working at either team are happy with this situation given the way their contributions end up not coming to us users because of this separation. If anyone here is on either team, or has some insight into this, I'd really like to understand what the thinking is behind this stuff. The same sort of goes for Allo, Hangouts, etc. What gives, Google?
I think you're missing the point of Inbox. It's not supposed to replace Gmail, not now and not ever. It's an additional way of using Gmail, hence why its full name is actually "Inbox by Gmail".
Inbox is an attempt to make Gmail easier to use for the average user who has simple needs, so all the "power user" features you want aren't supposed to be in Inbox. If your needs are complicated, you can just use Gmail. Inbox doesn't really introduce any new features that Gmail cannot do, it simply reframes Gmail features in a different UI and workflow. For example, Inbox's "done" action is available in Gmail, but in Gmail it's called "archive". Same with Inbox's "bundles": they're just called "tabs" in Gmail.
As an Inbox user, I'm pretty happy with the state of Inbox. I don't need extra features get my stuff done in Inbox. Porting every Gmail feature to Inbox is missing the point.
Inbox is an attempt to make Gmail easier to use for the average user who has simple needs, so all the "power user" features you want aren't supposed to be in Inbox. If your needs are complicated, you can just use Gmail. Inbox doesn't really introduce any new features that Gmail cannot do, it simply reframes Gmail features in a different UI and workflow. For example, Inbox's "done" action is available in Gmail, but in Gmail it's called "archive". Same with Inbox's "bundles": they're just called "tabs" in Gmail.
As an Inbox user, I'm pretty happy with the state of Inbox. I don't need extra features get my stuff done in Inbox. Porting every Gmail feature to Inbox is missing the point.
Does Gmail have email snoozing? It didn't when I switched to Inbox and I wouldn't want to use an email client without it now.
One way to achieve snoozing in any email client is to forward (and archive) the email to [email protected] (or [email protected] etc, the syntax is pretty complete and flexible). They will send you back the email at the specified time and date, so it ends up back in your inbox. No GUI but pretty efficient in practice.
[deleted]
Exactly this. This is THE advanced feature I need.
I both agree and disagree. It's certainly a reframing of Gmail in a more light format, but it has one killer feature (which is also the only reason I'm currently using it over Gmail) – email snoozing. To get that in Gmail you need a label-based plugin (desktop only) or a third-party app (to get it on mobile as well) afaik.
> I don't need extra features get my stuff done in Inbox.
I only need signatures in my non-gmail account. This is almost the only reason I switch to gmail now, when I have to send an email to someone outside my institution... it's very frustrating that they implemented signatures but only for gmail accounts.
I only need signatures in my non-gmail account. This is almost the only reason I switch to gmail now, when I have to send an email to someone outside my institution... it's very frustrating that they implemented signatures but only for gmail accounts.
Inbox actually has a signature feature in the "Settings" panel. It doesn't provide any formatting options, but you can copy-paste your signature from the Gmail signature settings, and it'll keep the formatting and any images you have.
I'd like to see the search in Inbox improved, and get hangouts history. Beyond that I'm pretty happy with it.
I really hope Google won't abandon Inbox and continue developing it, I'd really hate to go back to Gmail.
I personally use the snooze feature (time or location-based) quite at lot at work, along with the reminder feature (which also allow to add a note). I forget much less often to take action on an email in a timely manner because of it.
I think the problem is that 10% of Gmail users think Inbox is awesome and the rest think it's godawful for breaking 'feature X' they loved. Where feature X isn't one feature but a thousand tiny things. I think with Add-ons, they're trying to extend Gmail in a way that won't offend anyone married to the current UI.
Came to post this question also. I switched to Inbox when it came out and never looked back. The automated linking of travel emails into a cluster pertaining to the same trip, for example, is extremely useful, and after pinning anything that needs attention, clearing your inbox with the sweep button is amazing. Some clarity from google on the future of these two products would be nice.
Yeah, inbox seems vastly superior to me, with the exception that it runs like absolute shit on Firefox which I can only interpret as intentional, considering I find FF faster than Chrome for a lot of other stuff these days.
Some JS features are faster on Chrome and some on Firefox. Additionally, while Firefox is killing it on CSS and some layout stuff with Stylo and WebRender, JS is the area where Firefox isn't dominating.
It's trivial to explain the speed difference without assuming it intentional. In Inbox's case, sparse arrays were an issue initially[0] (and like many of the perf issues, it's been fixed[1].)
There will always be perf trade-offs. If you find any where they chose X over Y when X and Y are equal on Chrome, and X is faster than Y on Firefox, then let's talk about anti-competitive behavior.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8495498 [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1087963
It's trivial to explain the speed difference without assuming it intentional. In Inbox's case, sparse arrays were an issue initially[0] (and like many of the perf issues, it's been fixed[1].)
There will always be perf trade-offs. If you find any where they chose X over Y when X and Y are equal on Chrome, and X is faster than Y on Firefox, then let's talk about anti-competitive behavior.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8495498 [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1087963
I specifically installed Firefox 57 so that I could try Inbox there, because as you point out, on Firefox 56 it's very slow (especially the initial load).
On Firefox 57 with that new Quantum CSS, I found Inbox to be amazingly fast (I'd say even faster than Chrome on my yoga pro 2 - except for the right pane of Google Hangouts which takes a while to load still)
On Firefox 57 with that new Quantum CSS, I found Inbox to be amazingly fast (I'd say even faster than Chrome on my yoga pro 2 - except for the right pane of Google Hangouts which takes a while to load still)
I completely agree, I found inbox a little while ago and it's amazing. It's cut my time spent on emails by a factor of 10, and I love the inbuilt reminder system.
There are a few minor annoyances but the massive time savings are well worth dealing with them.
Something others haven't mentioned here when discussing the gmail vs inbox situation is the trio of products, Keep + Cal + Inbox, that make for an absolutely _awesome_ reminder workflow/experience.
IMHO if there's one thing missing from Gmail right now is the integration of Reminders from the other products. It doesn't really fit with the gmail workflow though, so I guess it's just another example of the same 'gmail should be more inboxy/inbox should be more gmaily' argument.
IMHO if there's one thing missing from Gmail right now is the integration of Reminders from the other products. It doesn't really fit with the gmail workflow though, so I guess it's just another example of the same 'gmail should be more inboxy/inbox should be more gmaily' argument.
More information about the developer experience here:
https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2017/10/gmail-add-o...
Edit: Looks like you build the add-ons with Google AppsScript. Very similar to Microsoft Office + VBA, on the web this time.
There's a CodeLab tutorial showing how to build a basic add-on that populates a Google Sheets file with receipt data from emails: https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/gmail-add-on...
https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2017/10/gmail-add-o...
Edit: Looks like you build the add-ons with Google AppsScript. Very similar to Microsoft Office + VBA, on the web this time.
There's a CodeLab tutorial showing how to build a basic add-on that populates a Google Sheets file with receipt data from emails: https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/gmail-add-on...
We (Streak yc s11) were a launch partner on this and launched our Add-on today. Even though we already have a chrome extension for desktop, add-ons allowed us to live inside the native Gmail mobile apps.
Happy to answer any questions about the add-on platform....
Happy to answer any questions about the add-on platform....
Is there any way to modify the appearance of text within emails? My startup has a popular Chrome extension that works with gmail on desktop, but we'd love to be on native gmail apps also. For context (and to understand why we need to modify the text), see http://www.beelinereader.com
Unfortunately, no. This is not possible with Add-ons.
What were you using before? InboxSDK or something similar that Streak developed? Have you had any issues with limitations in the official add-on API?
See my other comment on InboxSDK but summary, yes we are using InboxSDK because we made it and because we still want the power it offers on desktop. On mobile we use Add-ons plus a native app that can be deep linked to from the Add-on.
EDIT: if you look at the docs of the www.inboxsdk.com/docs there is a lot of functionality above and beyond the sidebar API that add-ons offers.
EDIT: if you look at the docs of the www.inboxsdk.com/docs there is a lot of functionality above and beyond the sidebar API that add-ons offers.
Thank you -- I had expected some differences and I do indeed use some InboxSDK features that aren't present in the official API (adding to the Compose button toolbar). That was very helpful.
I’m unable to install the Streak gmail add-on in my GSuite org. The “install” button is just disabled. Is this due to a gradual rollout on Google’s part? I haven’t been able to find any settings in my admin section that would enable this.
Also, are there any downsides or missing features of the add-on version compared to the extension version?
Also, are there any downsides or missing features of the add-on version compared to the extension version?
There is currently a Google bug where admins of a G Suite domain can't install any add-ons.
In terms of functionality, we're keeping our add-on fairly lightweight. On mobile, the add-on lets you deep link into our native apps for more enhanced functionality. On desktop, if you have our extension installed, it just replaces the add-on entirely so you get the most functionality possible.
In terms of functionality, we're keeping our add-on fairly lightweight. On mobile, the add-on lets you deep link into our native apps for more enhanced functionality. On desktop, if you have our extension installed, it just replaces the add-on entirely so you get the most functionality possible.
Gmail is consolidating their dominance with stuff like this. If things start replacing email communication, gmail will just provide it on top which moves us further and further from a standards compliant SMTP GUI that email was.
I haven't found an email client that reliably renders most html, yet we have addons and soon maybe Android apps in your email.
I haven't found an email client that reliably renders most html, yet we have addons and soon maybe Android apps in your email.
I don't think it's quite so gloomy. A lot of cool add-on functionality relies on semantic markup in the email itself [0]. These are open standards by necessity -- any email provider can add support for them. For example, here's the standard for flight reservations [1].
I'm not sure how widely adopted they are, but Microsoft supports at least event discovery [2].
[0] https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/
[1] http://schema.org/FlightReservation
[2] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automatically-add-t...
edit: formatting
I'm not sure how widely adopted they are, but Microsoft supports at least event discovery [2].
[0] https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/
[1] http://schema.org/FlightReservation
[2] https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automatically-add-t...
edit: formatting
Annoyingly, though, these markup features still require explicit approval from Google to function in Gmail. They aren't even usable at all for small sites, as one of Google's approval requirements is a "consistent history of sending a high volume of mail from your domain".
I guess Microsoft is close behind and probably leading in the number of paying customers. However, a duopoly isn't that much better either. It's unfortunate that the spirit of the internet that resulted in many open technologies is slowly being circumvented by companies seeking to monopolize. Unlike old monopolies, where breaking apart is reasonably easy, these new monopolies are entrenched right from their technology stack.
As long as they create standards and allow others to replicate then I don't see a problem. Like Apple with emojis in text messages.
But I don't see that happening with advanced email features. It alls happening outside of the email itself ad is part of the email application.
But I don't see that happening with advanced email features. It alls happening outside of the email itself ad is part of the email application.
[deleted]
Are there any concerns about privacy? I mean now you have applications that will use a platform that Google is known to scan for information.
I know everyone has heard this before, but I would like to see what people think. A couple of days ago, people were all up in arms about phone companies selling your website traffic. What makes Google better than god forbid AT&T or Verizon?
I know everyone has heard this before, but I would like to see what people think. A couple of days ago, people were all up in arms about phone companies selling your website traffic. What makes Google better than god forbid AT&T or Verizon?
First of all, these are integrations that you explicitly install (like installing an app), so that's obviously opt-in. That's a bit different from the adtech stuff many companies do without any benefit to you.
Second, why do you ask just about Google and not the other companies involved? For example, if you're interested in the Trello integration, you also need to trust Trello with any data you send there. Presumably anyone interested in that particular add-on has already decided to trust both Gmail and Trello with their data, or they wouldn't install it.
Apparently this is what the install screen looks like: https://support.google.com/a/answer/176367?hl=en&ref_topic=1...
Second, why do you ask just about Google and not the other companies involved? For example, if you're interested in the Trello integration, you also need to trust Trello with any data you send there. Presumably anyone interested in that particular add-on has already decided to trust both Gmail and Trello with their data, or they wouldn't install it.
Apparently this is what the install screen looks like: https://support.google.com/a/answer/176367?hl=en&ref_topic=1...
Opt in isn't enough to stop it becoming a toilet.
Years of Britney Spears Naked Screensavers and malware "removers" have taught us that users are idiots. You can net a bazillion users with one "unlimited space" add-on.
Obviously, there's some vetting but that doesn't always work.
These add-ons could run on Google's servers and only have connectivity to your inbox and session. Instead, this appears to allow companies to do what they like, sharting your data over multiple jurisdictions if they want. Doesn't fill me with confidence.
Years of Britney Spears Naked Screensavers and malware "removers" have taught us that users are idiots. You can net a bazillion users with one "unlimited space" add-on.
Obviously, there's some vetting but that doesn't always work.
These add-ons could run on Google's servers and only have connectivity to your inbox and session. Instead, this appears to allow companies to do what they like, sharting your data over multiple jurisdictions if they want. Doesn't fill me with confidence.
> users are idiots
Please, for the last time, stop using this rhetoric. How would you like to be called an idiot? As a developer and a user, I'm deeply offended by this condescending attitude.
I really don't know what people like -- apparently opt-out is bad, so now we're using opt-in. Still, "opt-in" is bad because it's becoming a toilet? How do you expect _any_ platform to work? Self-host everything?
Please, for the last time, stop using this rhetoric. How would you like to be called an idiot? As a developer and a user, I'm deeply offended by this condescending attitude.
I really don't know what people like -- apparently opt-out is bad, so now we're using opt-in. Still, "opt-in" is bad because it's becoming a toilet? How do you expect _any_ platform to work? Self-host everything?
I said exactly how it should work. These add-ons should exist and operate within Google/gmail and nowhere else. They shouldn't be able to send your data anywhere else. Instantly curtails the unwashed from having their identities stolen.
As for the rhetoric, I'm sorry you feel picked upon. I was speaking generally, not directly at you... but if that still doesn't reflect your experience of the idiots bumping their way around your product, lucky you. Seriously. Even in B2B apps with supposed experts, we get some alarmingly silly feedback.
As for the rhetoric, I'm sorry you feel picked upon. I was speaking generally, not directly at you... but if that still doesn't reflect your experience of the idiots bumping their way around your product, lucky you. Seriously. Even in B2B apps with supposed experts, we get some alarmingly silly feedback.
Re "idiots."
Everyone is ignorant about something. Take brilliant IT professionals. For many of them, manners and social skills are one of their weak areas.
Everyone is ignorant about something. Take brilliant IT professionals. For many of them, manners and social skills are one of their weak areas.
I think this is a harmful stereotype
I think you are missing my point. Which, you know, maybe doesn't belong on HN at all. But neither does name calling to begin with. The guidelines say so, more or less.
No I see your point. I also think this is a harmful stereotype. It’s not about your point.
Well, I don't think I am stereotyping. I am absolutely not saying "all IT people have terrible social skills" or anything like that. Just because the stereotype exists does not mean I am promoting it.
Sorry if that is a sore point for you. But, making a point in the particular case is not the same as tarring all IT people. I do plenty to give push back against such stereotypes. * I generally prefer the company of IT people. I long have. It is part of why I spend so much time on HN. But I don't feel I need to follow some sort of extremist zero tolerance policy here.
* For example: http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/08/communicatin...
Sorry if that is a sore point for you. But, making a point in the particular case is not the same as tarring all IT people. I do plenty to give push back against such stereotypes. * I generally prefer the company of IT people. I long have. It is part of why I spend so much time on HN. But I don't feel I need to follow some sort of extremist zero tolerance policy here.
* For example: http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/08/communicatin...
Finally got back to a real keyboard. I'm slightly aghast some of you feel we systems implementers (designers, developers, etc) need to be politically correct about the way we talk about users.
A person can be clever but people still do stupid things. I do not by any means truly think my users are mentally abnormal, really just that everybody —even those with specific, specialised counter-phishing training— succumb to really stupid things when we're manipulated in the right way.
As somebody developing systems, we really have to build defensively when users' wanton disregard for (eg) data security (manhandling customer databases, giving out their access to colleagues, clients, etc) conflicts with their employers, our and our regulators' data protection rules. So again, be offended if you like, but we're protecting our livelihoods.
In the context of this, Google could protect users against themselves and make the marketplace trustworthy.
A person can be clever but people still do stupid things. I do not by any means truly think my users are mentally abnormal, really just that everybody —even those with specific, specialised counter-phishing training— succumb to really stupid things when we're manipulated in the right way.
As somebody developing systems, we really have to build defensively when users' wanton disregard for (eg) data security (manhandling customer databases, giving out their access to colleagues, clients, etc) conflicts with their employers, our and our regulators' data protection rules. So again, be offended if you like, but we're protecting our livelihoods.
In the context of this, Google could protect users against themselves and make the marketplace trustworthy.
> How do you expect _any_ platform to work? Self-host everything?
That's kind of how the Internet was supposed to work. As it is, we've inverted it, and with that we've also inverted the ownership of data.
That's kind of how the Internet was supposed to work. As it is, we've inverted it, and with that we've also inverted the ownership of data.
The fact that something not like what the Internet is "supposed to be" can be working is exactly why the Internet is powerful.
A broken clock is correct twice a day, too.
Proof by analogy is fraud. You should know better.
If you really want to go down this path -- a broken clock is correct twice, as two discrete points in a continuous time space. The act of looking at the clock is analogous to sampling one discrete point in the time space. The possibility of sampling those two points at any given time is zero.
So no, a broken clock is not correct twice a day. Also, please stop proving anything with analogy.
If you really want to go down this path -- a broken clock is correct twice, as two discrete points in a continuous time space. The act of looking at the clock is analogous to sampling one discrete point in the time space. The possibility of sampling those two points at any given time is zero.
So no, a broken clock is not correct twice a day. Also, please stop proving anything with analogy.
Referring to a duck as a swan does not make it any less a duck.
I'll rewrite this comment:
"Users are idiots!"
Seems like an inappropriate contribution
"Users are idiots!"
Seems like an inappropriate contribution
The average user is a product of your UX and documentation. If it seems like all your users are idiots, then maybe the problem is you?
Inappropriate to whom? Pointing out that users are irrational is certainly relevant here. It’s difficult to see how exactly the implied condescension and arrogance here is inappropriate. Distracting? Sure. But this isn’t a self help forum, and you’re tossing the baby out with the bath water.
Is that how you excuse being a dick?
We've banned this account for repeatedly violating the site guidelines.
Those are concerns for consumer software (like phone apps), but I'm not sure if these add-ons even work with regular GMail?
They seem to be part of "GSuite Marketplace," which is what businesses use, so presumably the domain admin would also have control over which apps can be installed.
They seem to be part of "GSuite Marketplace," which is what businesses use, so presumably the domain admin would also have control over which apps can be installed.
> First of all, these are integrations that you explicitly install (like installing an app), so that's obviously opt-in.
I don't think the privacy/security concerns should be so cavalierly dismissed. I'm sure I'm not the first to open a friend or relative's computer and discover half a dozen browser toolbars installed. The same is likely to occur here. HN readership may be pretty cautious about this stuff, but HN readership isn't Gmail's only user base.
I don't think the privacy/security concerns should be so cavalierly dismissed. I'm sure I'm not the first to open a friend or relative's computer and discover half a dozen browser toolbars installed. The same is likely to occur here. HN readership may be pretty cautious about this stuff, but HN readership isn't Gmail's only user base.
Google says they no longer scan Gmail for advertising. I guess it depends on how much you trust them, but frankly one's emails are often pretty juicy by themselves, so if you're really worried you should probably not use it at all. I moved off it years ago.
Do they "no longer scan Gmail for advertising", or do they no longer scan Gmail?
They'll have to scan it for search. And spam, as sibling comment mentions. And, really, to store and display it at all, depending on your definition of 'scan'.
"Scan" means they take the data out of the "email" silo and use it for purposes other than providing email services to the user (such as using it for advertising).
Searching is not "scanning". Nor is any other normal behavior of providing email services.
So the question at this point is does Google keep your email data silo'd or do they use it for other purposes?
Searching is not "scanning". Nor is any other normal behavior of providing email services.
So the question at this point is does Google keep your email data silo'd or do they use it for other purposes?
That’s only a dream. Google also scans email snd combines the data with that of all the other users for spam filtering purposes, which is a big part of ‘email’.
It’s not difficult to put together creepy functionality and twist it so one of the purposes is providing email service.
It’s not difficult to put together creepy functionality and twist it so one of the purposes is providing email service.
Spam filtering is still in the email silo.
> Searching is not "scanning"
Pray, how does it work, then?
Pray, how does it work, then?
Don't be pedantic. Defining "scanning" as "anything that looks at the bits on disk" makes the word meaningless in this context, because then yes, Google must absolutely "scan" it to provide basic functionality, and heck every service everywhere must "scan" their data to provide basic functionality. But that's not useful to talk about.
Clearly Google Now/Home uses gmail data to be relevant.
Ok, better question: Is Google using your email data for anything not explicitly authorized by and for the benefit of the user?
Have you explicitly authorized them to provide you search and mail-based information in Google Now?
No idea, I don't use Google Now. I hope so, but it wouldn't surprise me if Google "forgot" about that step. But at least that's for the benefit of the user.
According to my understanding of Google's privacy policy, your account data is essentially global by default, they don't need to explicitly ask you service by service where they can use it. IANAL, though.
My point being that "advertising" is a very limited use case. There's nothing necessarily stopping them from selling your scanned, very personal information to anyone.
Their privacy policy is very clear that they don't share personal information, with four exception, none of which include selling it. So, if you trust them, they don't.
I'm sure they scan it, otherwise it'd be hard to catch spam. I don't think they ever said they scanned it for any other reason.
They explicitly used to scan emails for advertising purposes:
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-reading-personal-email...
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-reading-personal-email...
Hence any other reason. Advertising was the reason already in discussion.
Well, their privacy policy prohibits that sort of thing. It also doesn't make a lot of business sense, as Google's biggest advantage is being able to target ads based on that data.
Before Add-ons, there was Gmail Labs (still exists), just as a note to bear in mind in this discussion.
These add ons are voluntary and you have to enable them. If someone is under the illusion that Google is better at privacy than anyone else they should re-educate themselves about that .
Sounds a lot like Gmail Labs, which was discontinued. I've learned to expect most Google products to be killed off, so I don't even bother starting to use them anymore.
>Sounds a lot like Gmail Labs, which was discontinued.
It's still present and working on my personal Gmail as well as my work Gsuite account. I use a bunch of the features.
It's still present and working on my personal Gmail as well as my work Gsuite account. I use a bunch of the features.
Not sure if it's standard now (I remember enabling it as a gmail labs thing) but the "undo" button that lets you abort sending a mail a few seconds after you clicked the send button is really handy. It captures so many times where you think about something you forgot just after you hit "send".
Multiple inbox is my gmail since 2008 :)
Labs were experimental features developed by Google itself. These are stable features developed by third-parties. They both extend Gmail, but that's about it.
But there's still a chance that Google will discontinue the gmail addon marketplace, just like they previously killed Chrome apps: http://www.omgchrome.com/not-joke-google-killing-chrome-apps...
Electron based apps seem to be the successor to Chrome Apps
they are different i think. chrome apps will use shared instance with chrome if you're using it.
electron apps on the other hands, are creating their own instance.
electron apps on the other hands, are creating their own instance.
They also killed Hangout apps: https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/06/apps-that-rely-on-google...
"Don't be evil (except when screwing over loyal and established customers is great for the bottomline)."
[deleted]
You're right. If you don't count the services that still exists today, Google has killed almost all its products.
Logically there are only Google products that still exist, have been killed or have not been created yet.
I expect Google does have some future left in which it will create more products so I wouldn’t say it killed almost all its product except those that still exist.
I expect Google does have some future left in which it will create more products so I wouldn’t say it killed almost all its product except those that still exist.
Is Gmail even their priority anymore? Didn't they come out with Inbox some time back? I always was under the impression that Inbox was going to replace Gmail, but never knew for sure.
> Is Gmail even their priority anymore? Didn't they come out with Inbox some time back?
They'd better not kill GMail without adding an Inbox option to not show attached image previews inline in the inbox. I had to stop using Inbox because not only are these annoying, but there's no way for me to control whether my contacts (or even complete strangers for that matter) send me emails with NSFW images attached.
I like Inbox, though there are some other features I'd like to see before I permanently make the switch from GMail, but the above is a deal breaker. <me>@gmail.com has been my primary email for over a decade, but I'd have to switch to something else.
They'd better not kill GMail without adding an Inbox option to not show attached image previews inline in the inbox. I had to stop using Inbox because not only are these annoying, but there's no way for me to control whether my contacts (or even complete strangers for that matter) send me emails with NSFW images attached.
I like Inbox, though there are some other features I'd like to see before I permanently make the switch from GMail, but the above is a deal breaker. <me>@gmail.com has been my primary email for over a decade, but I'd have to switch to something else.
Making calendar invites from outlook work consistently in Inbox would be good too. (I have to constantly import ics files in calendar, which sucks.)
Just buy your own domain and run Gmail on it. Super easy to do, and if Google dicks with me too much I can move my mail somewhere else in minutes without changing my address
That'd require me to change my email address, when I've spent the last 10+ years training everyone to use my @gmail.
Easy to set up to forward [email protected] to [email protected], and reply from the latter.
The best time to have setup your own domain for email was ten years ago. The second best time is today.
The question is not if you will move off of Gmail, but when, and would it not be better to be prepared and start the process when you're not under duress from a planned sunset?
The question is not if you will move off of Gmail, but when, and would it not be better to be prepared and start the process when you're not under duress from a planned sunset?
I'm getting the feeling I'm the only one who happily switched to Inbox. But it sounds like the adoption is not there.
I still have to use gmail for some things like deleting lots of messages. And lately inbox has managed to freeze my entire computer for up to 30s.
I still have to use gmail for some things like deleting lots of messages. And lately inbox has managed to freeze my entire computer for up to 30s.
> If you don't count the services that still exists today, _____ has killed almost all its products.
Is there a company for which that phrase isn't true?
Is there a company for which that phrase isn't true?
> If you don't count the _____ that [survive] today, _____ has killed almost all its [members].
Aside from the logically redundant phrasing, this seems to me a fair description of how selective pressures lead to evolution in populations.
Yo yes, good point, Google does make efforts to ensure that their population of products thrives, evolves, and adapts.
Aside from the logically redundant phrasing, this seems to me a fair description of how selective pressures lead to evolution in populations.
Yo yes, good point, Google does make efforts to ensure that their population of products thrives, evolves, and adapts.
I think the phrasing was a joke
it'd be amusing to do an actual survival analysis of google product lifetime, with right censoring and everything.
There's http://www.gwern.net/Google-shutdowns which it looks like gwern has been keeping updated, although it was a good while ago I last read through.
It hasn't been discontinued, and some Labs have been promoted to supported features (e.g. "Undo send".) And I always turn on the "Unread message icon" feature, which is still in Labs.
If you are using G Suite, you might need to ask your administrator to enable Labs.
If you are using G Suite, you might need to ask your administrator to enable Labs.
>I've learned to expect most Google products to be killed off, so I don't even bother starting to use them anymore.
If there's one product that would incite the most furor if killed off, it's definitely Gmail.
It's the best email provider around and email is what ties together most peoples' online lives.
It's also at the core of Gsuite for businesses, which I imagine makes it net profitable.
If there's one product that would incite the most furor if killed off, it's definitely Gmail.
It's the best email provider around and email is what ties together most peoples' online lives.
It's also at the core of Gsuite for businesses, which I imagine makes it net profitable.
Killing the app doesn't mean the email service disappears.
Do you also avoid making friends in case they pass away?
Please upgrade your argument.
Please don't, even if someone's argument is bad.
I hope you kept the receipt on this rebuttal because you're going to need to trade it in. It's ok to just use a piece of software without expectations that it will always be there. Just enjoy it for what it is now. It's also ok to make friends knowing that they might not be there one day. Just enjoy life for what it is now.
You're misusing the analogy. Google is the friend, and Google product X is the friend's promise, and since the friend has broken promises Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E... in the past, eventually one stops believing the friend's promises.
So now, when the friend says, "Hey, meet me at $PLACE tonight at $TIME and we'll do $ACTIVITY," you say, "Yeah, right," and don't bother to go, because there's a good chance he won't show up, or he'll leave after 5 minutes, and you'll have to pay his tab.
So now, when the friend says, "Hey, meet me at $PLACE tonight at $TIME and we'll do $ACTIVITY," you say, "Yeah, right," and don't bother to go, because there's a good chance he won't show up, or he'll leave after 5 minutes, and you'll have to pay his tab.
Ok. We just have different outlooks.
You probably think "I'll love you forever" to means someone is promising to be around for you until the heat death of the universe.
Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN?
You just can't take the risk
Indeed. Found myself scraping Alphabet products of a list the other day - just can't risk spending months of effort on something that has a good change of disappearing overnight.
Google went from 'I need a good reason why we are not picking Google' to 'Avoid if at all able'.
For a company built on selling, Alphabet has become extraordinarily good at not selling itself.
Google went from 'I need a good reason why we are not picking Google' to 'Avoid if at all able'.
For a company built on selling, Alphabet has become extraordinarily good at not selling itself.
Does anyone ever want to annotate threads or messages with notes like next actions or why you didn’t reply? I always thought it should be built into gmail, but I suppose an add-on would work.
The Inbox (by Gmail) mobile app has this. "Pin" an email and you can write whatever you want to remember to do later.
It's awesome.
It's awesome.
Not much info in this particular message, but I wonder if this could be used with GPG to send and receive encrypted emails. I'm sure browser sandboxing would be an issue (hard to keep a key private when it's uploaded to another server and used in a browser window)... but still, the possibility would be pretty awesome.
There are extensions that do that well already. But the problem is still that I don't trust the browser with my private key.
I wonder though how reasonable my assumption is. E.g. how many security issues in the past two years could have potentially caused my key to be compromised if I were to use it that way.
I wonder though how reasonable my assumption is. E.g. how many security issues in the past two years could have potentially caused my key to be compromised if I were to use it that way.
The Gmail Add-ons are executed by Gmail and are within Gmail-controlled webpages. Nothing in the add-on is private from Gmail/Google. If you want end-to-end GPG-encryption where the plaintext and keys aren't accessible to Google, then you want to use a browser extension (such as Google's End-to-End extension or ones built off of it: https://github.com/google/end-to-end).
I wonder if this is just "contextual gadgets"[1] that have existed for paid gsuite/gmail for a while.
If not, they should probably consolidate the two.
[1]https://developers.google.com/gmail/gadgets_overview
If not, they should probably consolidate the two.
[1]https://developers.google.com/gmail/gadgets_overview
In my experience, Gadgets have been languishing for a while. We developed one to integrate Gmail with our issues tracker (it created an issue from the email content), yet after we tried to deploy an update, now using the new control panel, it simply never showed up again.
I think these are now effectively deprecated
How about just supporting previously existing features like attaching jar files?
Google: "Sorry we're busy impl'ing features no one's asked for."
Google: "Sorry we're busy impl'ing features no one's asked for."
This link does not open here https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/do-more-your-inbox-...
http://blog.google.com/ Doesn't open too
But https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com opens and google.com opens.
I have tested on my smartphone and didn't work. I am from Brasil, so, I do not think is some kind of restriction.
Anyone have any idea what's going on?
http://blog.google.com/ Doesn't open too
But https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com opens and google.com opens.
I have tested on my smartphone and didn't work. I am from Brasil, so, I do not think is some kind of restriction.
Anyone have any idea what's going on?
Hey, I'm the Tech Lead of the team that runs .google. Can you provide more information? What browser are you using? Can you use some tool like https://ipleak.net/ to determine what DNS servers you're hitting? And can you try some of these other domain names on other TLDs and report back? https://nomulus.foo https://nic.dev https://pki.goog/
Hi, thanks.
None of those 3 sites open here. What kind of information do you need from ipleak.net?
DNS Address - 1 server 45.62.204.178 Canada Canada
None of those 3 sites open here. What kind of information do you need from ipleak.net?
DNS Address - 1 server 45.62.204.178 Canada Canada
What browser are you using?
It does seem like you're having DNS problems. See the following:
Even stranger, against your configured DNS server, requests for non-existent .google domains do work correctly, as does nic.google and sites on many of the rest of our TLDs (e.g. get.how and iam.soy). nic.dev and bar.foo do work for me but pki.goog and nomulus.foo do not.
It looks to me like you're having DNS problems. Can you switch your DNS settings? Or use a VPN that does that built-in?
Also, why, if you're in Brasil, are you hitting a DNS server located in Canada?
It does seem like you're having DNS problems. See the following:
$ dig @45.62.204.178 blog.google
; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-3ubuntu0.16-Ubuntu <<>> @45.62.204.178 blog.google
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached
Even stranger, against your configured DNS server, requests for non-existent .google domains do work correctly, as does nic.google and sites on many of the rest of our TLDs (e.g. get.how and iam.soy). nic.dev and bar.foo do work for me but pki.goog and nomulus.foo do not.
It looks to me like you're having DNS problems. Can you switch your DNS settings? Or use a VPN that does that built-in?
Also, why, if you're in Brasil, are you hitting a DNS server located in Canada?
I have changed the DNS and now it is working correctly. Two days ago, a problem occurred with the modem and they changed the device. All settings were on automatic.
But I really can not understand why blog.google did not work right away, and why it was routed to a canada DNS.
I am using Google Chrome and Firefox.
Tks for take the time to help. The internet provider that I am using is called netcombo.com.br and in the past, they have blocked the use of others DNS and some services. I do not know if that is the case now.
I have asked for others using the same internet provider to test and will update when they done.
Edit. So, others using the same provider reporter that https://www.blog.google do not open there.
But I really can not understand why blog.google did not work right away, and why it was routed to a canada DNS.
I am using Google Chrome and Firefox.
Tks for take the time to help. The internet provider that I am using is called netcombo.com.br and in the past, they have blocked the use of others DNS and some services. I do not know if that is the case now.
I have asked for others using the same internet provider to test and will update when they done.
Edit. So, others using the same provider reporter that https://www.blog.google do not open there.
Thanks for your debugging help. I'm working to see what the next step might be to contact people at that ISP and tell them that they're messing something up. You could also tell them via their tech support that they're misrouting requests for certain TLDs.
Search results for GPG
We couldn't find anything for your search.
:-/
We couldn't find anything for your search.
:-/
Indeed disappointing -- this has to be the single most requested feature in Gmail, how can they not open a new universe which could allow this, and then not include this.
Not only that, but they have a guy who AFAIU spent his 20% time to build this feature (i.e. e2ee using GPG), it would take minimal resources to implement it as an add-on. I guess with all the usage data they have they know how much the general public cares about privacy. It's sad not even the Googlers who care can push some of these "higher good" features without being reassigned to some mundane shit.
https://github.com/google/end-to-end
https://github.com/google/end-to-end
Maybe all the usage data they have shows that the general public does not care about privacy?
What I've always wanted are widgets that show up in your inbox as if they're emails, but aren't actually emails.
So rather than your calendar sending you an email reminder, it inserts a calendar "app" item that's opened when you click the subject of the non-email.
Or a todo list that lives in your inbox, but directly opens a todo document rather links to a todo document. Would replace the never-sent draft I currently use for the same.
So rather than your calendar sending you an email reminder, it inserts a calendar "app" item that's opened when you click the subject of the non-email.
Or a todo list that lives in your inbox, but directly opens a todo document rather links to a todo document. Would replace the never-sent draft I currently use for the same.
Not exactly the same, but with an Email Go-To Action you can add a button to the subject line that links to whatever you want: https://developers.google.com/gmail/markup/actions/actions-o...
I'd love to build one of these myself, but can't seem to find any information on what API/system to do so. Have they released details yet?
I have been using unofficial addons for a while like Todoist and Trello and love the fact that they are making a step in the right direction. More integrations, more love.
On the other hand, I really hate their blog design. The reading space is less than half the screen. https://cl.ly/0h2z471o0v2W
On the other hand, I really hate their blog design. The reading space is less than half the screen. https://cl.ly/0h2z471o0v2W
I was a Gmail user since 2004 or so, relying on the Web client. It was good, the message threading worked, labels were strictly greater than folder structure, and archiving to "all mail" is an excellent notion.
The web UI has gone to crap lately, it being overly bloated, not refreshing inbox anymore after a while, getting rid of plain text (though this was a long time ago). The message composition editor is a mess!
I tried gmail with mutt, I tried gmail with mu4e. They didn't quite replicate the good bits what I wanted. To overcome the psychological barrier I changed email vendors and jumped to mu4e workflow with a fresh start. This is readily a better experience and since I didn't have to worry about fully replicating the Gmail experience I was able to "settle for less".
The web UI has gone to crap lately, it being overly bloated, not refreshing inbox anymore after a while, getting rid of plain text (though this was a long time ago). The message composition editor is a mess!
I tried gmail with mutt, I tried gmail with mu4e. They didn't quite replicate the good bits what I wanted. To overcome the psychological barrier I changed email vendors and jumped to mu4e workflow with a fresh start. This is readily a better experience and since I didn't have to worry about fully replicating the Gmail experience I was able to "settle for less".
I hope that the 'Quick Links' function from the Gmail Labs will return as an add-on!
On the other, it makes me sad that for my business mail, I am stuck with Apple Mail. I miss therefore many important Gmail features, including security-related features. And Apple Mail has still no reliable support for Gmail drafts …
On the other, it makes me sad that for my business mail, I am stuck with Apple Mail. I miss therefore many important Gmail features, including security-related features. And Apple Mail has still no reliable support for Gmail drafts …
This. The disappearance of quick links killed my productivity. Super frustrating.
Is that notify link for general availability in the post working for anyone? I'm getting an authorization error.
I've been using InboxSDK for a SaaS project add-on and I would love to go to an official API and have it work on GSuite mobile apps.
I've been using InboxSDK for a SaaS project add-on and I would love to go to an official API and have it work on GSuite mobile apps.
We (Streak) are also the makers of the InboxSDK.
We're planning on writing a post for how InboxSDK + Add-ons plays nicely together.
Coming later today but in the meantime, tl;dr is we suggest having both if you're doing anything more than a sidebar. We (Streak) are doing both - to get more powerful API's on desktop but still having functionality on mobile.
We're planning on writing a post for how InboxSDK + Add-ons plays nicely together.
Coming later today but in the meantime, tl;dr is we suggest having both if you're doing anything more than a sidebar. We (Streak) are doing both - to get more powerful API's on desktop but still having functionality on mobile.
Just want to point out that as a user reading that blog on a 12" laptop screen, that page is a UI disgrace. The suggested articles popped up covering the lower 1/3 of the screen and the top bar popped down to cover the top 1/3 of the screen any time I hinted at an up scroll which on a laptop trackpad is extremely common. This left me with 1/3 of the screen to actually read the content of this post. Terrible design google, you can do much better than that.
Why do we keep trying to add features to email when it is overflow with information already?
I dont check email anymore. At least not regularly and dont want to open it. Gmail's Spam detection is also no longer as good as it used to be.
Gmail won the battle with unlimited space for inbox and much better Spam Detection. The first decade of Internet was Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, then we moved to Gmail. I wonder if there will be another email services movement.
I dont check email anymore. At least not regularly and dont want to open it. Gmail's Spam detection is also no longer as good as it used to be.
Gmail won the battle with unlimited space for inbox and much better Spam Detection. The first decade of Internet was Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, then we moved to Gmail. I wonder if there will be another email services movement.
Add Trello card may be something I'd use for sure.
Finally! I'll be glad to be rid of all the nasty browser extensions for Salesforce, Hubspot, and the like on all the Sales laptops.
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I just want to be able to select text and bottom post again...
And selling data to third-party just got easier.
Since google asked to use inbox I never looked back (and I know that Gmail is better client but people are crazy)
Is Inbox another abandoned Google product?
I really like Inbox but I feel it'll inevitably end up being chopped by Google so I just can't justify switching to it and getting used to it right now.
does anyone else feel that technology is a bit stuck these days, like we are still talking about making email more useful.
I don't know what's needed but the paradigm needs to shift, or something, it just seems like yet another incremental plug-in that will inevitably die or be underused.
I don't know what's needed but the paradigm needs to shift, or something, it just seems like yet another incremental plug-in that will inevitably die or be underused.
What about a simple add on that convert Google doc template with customer data in to attachable document ?
Gmail on Android is such a shitty locked-down experience. Want to create an appointment from an email? Nope. Want to set a reminder about an email? Nope. Want to link to an email from a notes or other app? Nope.
OK, well now maybe. If you become a "business partner" with them and shove your product into whatever grand strategery they're cooking up this quarter.
It's sad to think how Android was envisioned as this open system where apps freely communicate with each other but Google has been working overtime to kill that vision. Google in general just hates open these days.
OK, well now maybe. If you become a "business partner" with them and shove your product into whatever grand strategery they're cooking up this quarter.
It's sad to think how Android was envisioned as this open system where apps freely communicate with each other but Google has been working overtime to kill that vision. Google in general just hates open these days.
I'm not sure what how Gmail is particularly locked-down compared to any other app. I'm not an Android developer, but it seems like there's not really a great way to add functionality to an app as a third party. If you want an app that does those things, you can still connect it with a Gmail account. In fact, there are many apps designed to connect with Gmail and add new features.
Android is designed from the ground up to enable this kind of thing. It has a powerful cross-app Intent system that could allow sharing of emails, deeplinking into gmail, broadcasting email changes, allow other apps to change email status, etc.
From the programming and functionality perspective that's fantastic. From the data security perspective that's a nightmare.
I don't think androids intent system has any large security implications (I think it has had some but in general). But what I find more interesting/suprising how often I read about these types of concerns given that desktop operating systems provide very limited protection in this area e.g firefox can read all my emails since thunderbird and firefox are run as the same user.
Well, on one hand, mobile operating systems like iOS were designed to be a big step up from the security perspective; android was born more like a desktop operating system scaled down to mobile but has progressively increasing security isolating apps more and more within their sandbox with less options to run in background, hook into the general user experience of the system, and manage things that they don’t belong to them.
On the other hand, your example is wrong on macOS where apple mail and safari are sandboxed. So desktop operating systems are trying to catch up security wise and go beyond the traditional Unix security model.
On the other hand, your example is wrong on macOS where apple mail and safari are sandboxed. So desktop operating systems are trying to catch up security wise and go beyond the traditional Unix security model.
I think the concerns come from the side of people (legal and real) that want to store data and perform computation on other people's devices without the owner being able to control things.
What do I mean by this? Anyone with a 'private' API, anyone who's business model involves DRM and anyone who thinks that a remote wipe of an unwilling device should be possible.
What do I mean by this? Anyone with a 'private' API, anyone who's business model involves DRM and anyone who thinks that a remote wipe of an unwilling device should be possible.
The way Intents are designed it's really not.
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I think the problem is, fundamentally, lock-in is often a lucrative strategy, open isn't. The internet is "accidentally" open, when it comes to protocols like SMTP, HTTP, etc, I think primarily because it was more of an research/educational network. The commercial enterprises (AOL, CompuServe) were proprietary and walled off.
Looks like the old Microsoft embrace extend extinguish to me.
Those actions are on the e-mail sender to implement; GMail has an open specification for an e-mail to provide a structured representation of data it contains.
https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2013/05/introducing...
https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2013/05/introducing...
Right, a corporate spammer can tell google that an email is a calendar event (valuable data!). But the receiving user can't do it themselves using some other calendar app.
In android's intents model it's the email app so that would need to use the create event intent to send the data to the calendar.
To do this the calendar would need to access the emails - which would need either IMAP built in to the calendar app [EDIT: or to change the android permission model].
Edited - finished sentence
To do this the calendar would need to access the emails - which would need either IMAP built in to the calendar app [EDIT: or to change the android permission model].
Edited - finished sentence
I believe the idea is (or was) that the e-mail app will use a "content provider" component[1] to give other apps access to data as appropriate.
[1] https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content...
[1] https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content...
[deleted]
The point of this structured data format is that you don't need to give the calendar app fill access to the email; just to the attached calendar info included in the email, which can be attached to the intent.
You can't even have an HTML signature on Gmail for Android.
Something so trivial missing from Google's main email client.
Something so trivial missing from Google's main email client.
To provide a counterpoint, I think it's great the way it is in this respect.
I don't want any of these features and wouldn't want others to use things like HTML signatures.
I don't want any of these features and wouldn't want others to use things like HTML signatures.
I agree, a few less signatures in the world isn't a bad thing.
Would be nice to be able to configure different (plain text) signatures for my different email addresses though.
You are the exception, not the rule.
> You can't even have an HTML signature on Gmail for Android.
Do not know for android but next sentence is true
You can have an HTML signature on Gmail for IOS.
Basically you setup html signature on web desktop client, then send email through mobile app without signature and gmail does the rest (fetch your hmtl signature)
Do not know for android but next sentence is true
You can have an HTML signature on Gmail for IOS.
Basically you setup html signature on web desktop client, then send email through mobile app without signature and gmail does the rest (fetch your hmtl signature)
What bugs me the most is offline use. If you have unreliable network coverage, like I do everyday in the subway, the damn thing tries to connect for every action and then just become unresponsive if the connection fails. You have to activate airplane mode so it'll know not to try to access the network.
I'm going to use this space to complain that there's still not a way to delete single messages on Android instead of the whole thread. This is possible on the web, and I've been asking Gmail for this simple function for years, yet they continue to avoid adding it in.
Just curious, why would you delete a message on a thread?
Here is my Gmail on Android workflow: I swipe to right and archive the thread after I read the thread. It goes away from my inbox. Once someone adds a new mail to the chain thread re appears in my mailbox. I read it and archive it again. I rarely delete a mail.
Here is my Gmail on Android workflow: I swipe to right and archive the thread after I read the thread. It goes away from my inbox. Once someone adds a new mail to the chain thread re appears in my mailbox. I read it and archive it again. I rarely delete a mail.
Useless side conversations that spun off from the original email. Or even worse, when gmail smashes a message in there that doesn't belong in the thread at all.
Someone emails sensitive material that you don't want persisted (e.g a password) in your account. Yes it may keep being persisted somewhere else due to the nature of email but hey, it very much depends on your threat model, you don't control what the sender decides to send anyway, and you can do a best effort for it not to become a liability on you.
Sometimes mail bounces. I liked to delete those messages off the thread.
I find that using Gmail with mailing more than X people is impossible because the replies all get mushed together. I now change the subject line for individual replies so I don't get lost.
I find that using Gmail with mailing more than X people is impossible because the replies all get mushed together. I now change the subject line for individual replies so I don't get lost.
What?!? I do it all the time, just a simple swipe left and it is deleted.
You just need to change the default from archive to delete on the settings panel.
You just need to change the default from archive to delete on the settings panel.
So why not just use another email client besides Gmail? And when you find one you like you can even set it as your default email client.
Does Outlook on mobile provide these?
Iirc desktop outlook could create events/reminders/tasks linked to emails in your inbox.
Iirc desktop outlook could create events/reminders/tasks linked to emails in your inbox.
Yes! (I'm the dev who implemented them in Outlook Mobile). I think you are thinking of COM add-ins though, which were significantly more powerful, but a security risk. The new JS based approach, which has been in place for a few years, can't do quite as much, but is much much safer.
[deleted]
google doesn't hate open, they give us a lot of quality free / open source software. being who they are, they also make proprietary products. I'd take a world with google's contributions to foss than one without.
Have you tried inbox?
It works OK if you are willing to submit to their new paradigm, but some people like a traditional inbox. Try Aquamail for instance. It's what gmail would be if it worked properly.
Seconding Aquamail, by far the best email client I've used for Android.
Just Like Java (TM)? Google is the new Sun Microsystems?
Except Google figured out how to monetize the success. I knew it was bad when the JRE install started asking if I wanted to install search bars in my browser.
I think, per Zero to One, Thiel (for one) would argue otherwise. Take away search (read: ads on SERPs) and Google is close to an average, if not subpar, "success story."
Take away the iPhone and Apple is a failing computer manufacturer. Take away Windows and Microsoft is a mediocre console maker and makes Office. So?
Read Zero to One. It'll explain the situation better than I can in a tiny textbox :)
The worst thing about Gmail on Android for me is that it doesn't deliver mails reliably. Sometimes when I open the web client on my computer I'm greeted by a list of unread emails, and almost immediately my phone fires of the notification for new mail, even though some of them can be several days old. This indicates that it's Google's servers that isn't sending the notification to my phone when mail arrives, but I consider them to be part of the same system and don't really care where the failure is.
Does anybody else have problems with mails not being delivered to their phones until hours or days after they've arrived in the inbox?
Does anybody else have problems with mails not being delivered to their phones until hours or days after they've arrived in the inbox?
This sounds like a push/background data issue, where refreshing forces the phone to update.
I haven't had this issue since my OG HTC EVO, but toggling Sync on an account basis in the app could help.
There was also a catastrophic bug in both Gmail and Inbox about a month ago where emails wouldn't notify, might be worth an update if you haven't in a while.
I haven't had this issue since my OG HTC EVO, but toggling Sync on an account basis in the app could help.
There was also a catastrophic bug in both Gmail and Inbox about a month ago where emails wouldn't notify, might be worth an update if you haven't in a while.
Now with Add-ons, Gmail is definately the next Google+, and by far the most successful social network they've been able to create.
But after 13 years of extensive use of it, I'm currently leaving Gmail for Apple iCloud solution.
No ads. No analysis. Just plain good emails.
But after 13 years of extensive use of it, I'm currently leaving Gmail for Apple iCloud solution.
No ads. No analysis. Just plain good emails.
Check out FastMail too
I hope we get a usable GPG add-on that works on mobile from this
Is Google going to make Gmail an app platform?
Gmail is a component of GSuite, which has been an app platform for a while.
Will gmail get add ons or just gsuite?
Any add ons to Sort by Sender?
Too bad a lot of business decisions are made on slack, or other such tools today. A bit late, goog.
[deleted]
Nothing new here, all this and more can be accomplished by a simple browser extension.
We (Streak) are based on a browser extension, but we're actually really excited about this launch since it works on the native Gmail mobile apps and it lets you install addons once and have them work across all your devices.
Add-ons work across web and Android though :)
> Nothing new here, all this and more can be accomplished by a simple desktop app.
FTFY
FTFY
All I want is to be able to define a search, and have gmail separate those into a new tab, with a badge that tells me how many unread emails are there. That's all I want and my productivity would increase drastically.
They almost have it with multiple inboxes, but the layout is really shitty and I have to scroll around my gmail window to see the various inboxes. Why can't they just add this as another tab? It's infuriating that such a simple and useful feature doesn't exist yet. This is why having a monoculture for things like email is a bad idea, they don't really care.
They almost have it with multiple inboxes, but the layout is really shitty and I have to scroll around my gmail window to see the various inboxes. Why can't they just add this as another tab? It's infuriating that such a simple and useful feature doesn't exist yet. This is why having a monoculture for things like email is a bad idea, they don't really care.
+1
Does [Gmail quick links](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-quick-links/...) not do this?
What's the state of development of it? Doesn't seems to be moving much and a lot of features from gmail are still missing, and I continue to see dev happening on gmail and not on inbox.
Should I be moving back to inbox?