Posted Oct 31st 2008 12:56PM by Webmail Team
Happy Halloween Gmail! We knew you would have the best costume at the party, and who can blame you? We think it's great that you're using this holiday to pay homage to the one who started it all, who got 35 million people online at once, gave them all email, great content and messaging capabilities, and even created a forum that encouraged them to speak in emoticons.
That costume is fabulous...clearly, the devil is in the details... and what's that you've got there? An "experimental" instant-messaging feature built right into your mail service so people can use it to send text messages to their contacts' phones? We love it – that was such a hit when we first introduced it so many years ago. We tried to make it easy: telling users to simply open the AIM panel in their email type "+1 and the 10-digit cell phone number" into the To: Screen Name box. It's kind of fun, too – good choice!
And those sidebar options – talk about getting it right... Adding gadgets to email that allow people to manage their calendars, access their favorite content and best Websites? Nice work. The idea of adding a side panel like that was one of our best. Giving people the ability to get to their favorite places on the Web, manage their schedules and IM right from their email home page tripled the convenience of our service. We're sure you'll get lots of compliments.
Finally, is that an "attachment warning" popping up on your back? Nice touch. We know nothing is more embarrassing than having to send an email twice because you forgot the attachment. Our users love this little reminder, and they have been praising it since we first implemented it back in 2007.
They say imitation is the best form of flattery, so Gmail, we thank you and we are indeed very flattered. Putting together a costume that is so dead-on could not have been easy, and you've got it down pat. Trying to convince all the other kids at the party that the only thing to use is Gmail and putting out a press release every time you add a new button to the service is just so 1998. We're telling you – this outfit brings back memories!
Here's a tip though... the Web's getting more personal, and people are really savvy at customizing their own services. When you don this same costume next year, make sure you check out www.tunome.com first and add some third party services (see our new Yahoo! plug-in) – you can't be all Gmail all the time any more – it won't be such a big hit next year!
Happy Halloween!
Hey, you might have some good ideas, but if you don't implement them well, they mean nothing. It's like having good intentions... Oh, I *meant* to get you a great present for your birthday, but...
AOL might be innovative over there, but they need to do more with the ideas they have. Mocking GMail just makes you look petty and jealous.
I'm not sure I get the joke - did Gmail don a clunkier UI today for Halloween?
Seriously, AOL will always have a place in Internet history, but the present, and likely the future, belong to Google.
Gmail was free first, more intuitive, more customizable, and better at communicating new features than AOL mail. I used to work at AOL, and I had no idea about that text message feature. As a g-chat user, I do miss my old AIM file transfer capabilities, but that's about it.
Oh yeah, one more thing -- scoreboard:
TWX 10.09
GOOG 359.36
How about NO SOFTWARE TO DOWNLOAD OR INSTALL!! Try that AOL! I seem to remember getting bombarded with free CD's in the mail. Then going to my favorite store to see free CD's at the counter. I still have yet to find a Google CD.
Whoa, talk about bitter. And hypocritical. Just in July you were touting a draft feature that Gmail has had for ages. I don't see crediting them for that.
Heh, I love it AOL. Bitchy is the best color I've seen on you in a long time.
I guess a lot of the people who built AOL Mail, and were in turn rewarded by being slashed in your seemingly endless rounds of infamous layoffs. Now work at Google.
I guess there haven't been quite enough cuts when there's still time for someone @AOL to write a blog posting like this.
Bygones, for what it's worth, I found a bit of humor in it.
This is ridiculous. You're soooo behind the curve, all the time. If it was in your control, none of the web would have even been possible, but just small networks a la Compuserve or the first MSN shit. What a shame. Go cry somewhere else, kid.
Some of us older internet geeks still remember the day AOL connected its routers to the rest of the Internet as The Day The Internet Died. There was a reason that *@aol.com hit so many killfiles.
Bit jealous, are we? It does seem seriously petty and small to go whining about stuff like this. Besides, none of the features you talk about are exclusive to you anyway.
I don't know any serious internet users who have @aol.com as their email. The overwhelming majority are people who are Internet neophytes.
AOL, your open letter is petty and sad.
i love my Gmail. While AOL mail may have various features, there's nothing about my AOL mail that I like. 'Nuff said.
Actually, one more thing: I have a long memory about how AOL was evil to so many people with its billing practices. And how evil some of the customer service managers at AOL have been as I've attempted to resolve billing problems. One AOL customer service supervisor actually laughed at me and told me with great glee that he'd refer my account to a collection agency and try to trash my credit, rather than try to understand and resolve an error on AOL's side.
AOL has caused me a lot of aggravation and frustration in the past. I've had nothing but good experiences with Google services, they make my life easier and better.
Remembering that AOL customer service supervisor laugh at me with that evil laugh, I say AOL is getting what it deserves in the marketplace.
The customer can fire everyone in the company from the chairman of the board on down, simply by going elsewhere. Which I, and many other people have done.
Buh-bye, AOL.
I second Joe from above. Yes, AOL has a place in internet history, but when I grew up and realized you didn't need AOL to get on the internet (many years ago), I was sent into billing hell! I went for months trying to cancel my service, being told it was canceled, then seeing it on my statement again. You remember this...right AOL? I mean, it made national news.
The time you spent crying to the public to "Look at me..look at me," would have been better spent studying Google and learning a thing or two about service, reliable products, and ease of use.
One big difference between the two services: GMail has never stolen money from me. After canceling AOL service, we had to contact the card company and ask them to block all the continuing charges from AOL. Nice business model: deliver substandard services until people quit and then rape their credit card for a few extra months.
This blog post perfectly shows out out of touch AOL is. Google lapped you years ago.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Instead of "jokingly" chiding Google for borrowing features that are hardly patent-worthy, why not write an open letter to the effect of "That's cute, Google, we've been doing all those things since Steve Case was still the Man, but now look at all of the NEW things we're doing on top of it all..."? I would appreciate the "joke" far better in that event.
Chris Stewart
http://www.twitter.com/socialtopher
And history is bound to repeat itself yet again. Look at what's happening with OpenID. A handful of brilliant engineers from AOL got involved early. AOL was the first "major" web company to launch support for OpenID. But the idiots who run the company didn't quite "get it" and didn't support the effort. Now all the other major web companies have launched support. And there is the also ran AOL, standing on the street cornering, trying to say, "I was here first." Too bad no one is listening.
Maybe some day AOL will go back to leading with engineering. Until then, the morons running the company will continue to milk it till its dry.
Almost there...
-Jim, an AOL fan once upon a time
Great blog! Ha ha! Go get 'em AOL! Everyone knows you shouldn't copy other people's web services. Especially not a pixel for pixel rip of Yahoo's home page. http://valleywag.com/tech/ui/aol-rips-off-yahoo-front-page-255854.php
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