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A lot of the features advertised by HEY have been sorely missing from Gmail for a long time. I wouldn't exactly call them innovative. Gmail will have an easy ti

A lot of the features advertised by HEY have been sorely missing from Gmail for a long time. I wouldn't exactly call them innovative. Gmail will have an easy time implementing these features, now that someone is kicking them out of their decade-long slumber. Plenty of people will be happy to pay for a quality and not-Google email service. Glad to see they have the resources and willpower to do this!

svachalek 6y ago
Google had an innovative email platform called Inbox that was widely loved by its users and they killed it two years ago. If the market is not billions of people they just don't care about it.
- 1123581321 6y ago
  I loved Inbox, but what actually happened there was that there were two visions of Gmail 2.0 internally. Inbox didn’t win, partly because it was written in a nightmarish C++ framework, but some of its best features were brought into Gmail. Gmail is a conservatively managed product, but it does improve over time.
  - CarlosEscobedo 6y ago
    Main thing its missing which i miss daily is bundles. Auto travel bundle was super helpful. Also it had a better ui..
  - msh 6y ago
    What is Gmail written in?
    - mynegation 6y ago
      Java, compiled with Closure
  - andolanra 6y ago
    Nobody I know who used Inbox feels that the current Gmail interface—even with some Inbox features backported—is an acceptable substitute for Inbox.
    - 1123581321 6y ago
      Now you know one. :)
    - rocha 6y ago
      Have you tried the Simplify GMail browser extension? It made the transition from Inbox to GMail less painful to me. https://simpl.fyi/ https://simpl.fyi/
      - morberg 6y ago
        That looks quite nice. Is there an alternative for Safari?
  - juliozaravia 6y ago
    I'm intrigued. How could the framework of a certain programming language affect the product, in this case Inbox?
    - 1123581321 6y ago
      My understanding is that development of Inbox slowed and became unpleasant because the C++ generated JS was unattractive to developers at Google, and it didn’t have the internal support for a rewrite. Since the Gmail product was the incumbent, has more developers and is probably refactored often enough to maintain a certain code quality level, and several Inbox features were compatible with Gmail, the Inbox product had no leverage to get itself enough support to stay alive.
- bad_user 6y ago
  Google should have written seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones.
  - botverse 6y ago
    Just chuckled at this.
cercatrova 6y ago
Gmail won't implement most of these features, due to the classic innovator's dilemma. Too many people use and expect Gmail to work like a regular email app, chronological stack of emails with read and unread, so even though these features may help the more productive users, Gmail can't alienate most of its other users. What they could do is create another email app, which they did called Inbox, but then they killed it and most of its features, which were similar to Hey's, haven't been incorporated, precisely due to the reasons above.

svachalek 6y ago

Google had an innovative email platform called Inbox that was widely loved by its users and they killed it two years ago. If the market is not billions of people they just don't care about it.

1123581321 6y ago
I loved Inbox, but what actually happened there was that there were two visions of Gmail 2.0 internally. Inbox didn’t win, partly because it was written in a nightmarish C++ framework, but some of its best features were brought into Gmail. Gmail is a conservatively managed product, but it does improve over time.
- CarlosEscobedo 6y ago
  Main thing its missing which i miss daily is bundles. Auto travel bundle was super helpful. Also it had a better ui..
- msh 6y ago
  What is Gmail written in?
  - mynegation 6y ago
    Java, compiled with Closure
- andolanra 6y ago
  Nobody I know who used Inbox feels that the current Gmail interface—even with some Inbox features backported—is an acceptable substitute for Inbox.
  - 1123581321 6y ago
    Now you know one. :)
  - rocha 6y ago
    Have you tried the Simplify GMail browser extension? It made the transition from Inbox to GMail less painful to me. https://simpl.fyi/ https://simpl.fyi/
    - morberg 6y ago
      That looks quite nice. Is there an alternative for Safari?
- juliozaravia 6y ago
  I'm intrigued. How could the framework of a certain programming language affect the product, in this case Inbox?
  - 1123581321 6y ago
    My understanding is that development of Inbox slowed and became unpleasant because the C++ generated JS was unattractive to developers at Google, and it didn’t have the internal support for a rewrite. Since the Gmail product was the incumbent, has more developers and is probably refactored often enough to maintain a certain code quality level, and several Inbox features were compatible with Gmail, the Inbox product had no leverage to get itself enough support to stay alive.
bad_user 6y ago
Google should have written seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones.
- botverse 6y ago
  Just chuckled at this.

cercatrova 6y ago

Gmail won't implement most of these features, due to the classic innovator's dilemma. Too many people use and expect Gmail to work like a regular email app, chronological stack of emails with read and unread, so even though these features may help the more productive users, Gmail can't alienate most of its other users. What they could do is create another email app, which they did called Inbox, but then they killed it and most of its features, which were similar to Hey's, haven't been incorporated, precisely due to the reasons above.