It seems that email service innovation went into hibernation after the dot-com bubble burst. There were incremental improvements in features, like better spam filters or more space, until Google shook up the space with Gmail. Gmail’s initial attraction was the ‘unlimited’ space offer that Google used to promote the service. Google also introduced a new approach to categorizing your email, using tags instead of folders. One email now could be assigned to many ‘tags’, no folders needed. I’ve had a Gmail account for some time, and find it adequate for some needs. For many, however, Gmail is not user friendly enough to justify a switch.
While Google has taken a spartan approach to using web interfaces, the other major services have decided to move closer toward mimicking desktop applications. Marc Orchant, over at the Office Weblog, has a great initial review of where Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL are taking their services. Continue reading “Reinventing web email services”
nitin badjatia 