OAuth was added so apps could be built which are able to access other peoples gmail accounts, but without sharing credentials. I believe there are web apps whic

OAuth was added so apps could be built which are able to access other peoples gmail accounts, but without sharing credentials. I believe there are web apps which utilise this OAuth capability, but I haven't come across any desktop apps which use it. My point still stands though, which is that you can use IMAP without passwords.