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Xobni launches 4 partnerships that will change Outlook forever
- aneesh 18y agoCongrats Xobni!
- lux 18y agoCongratulations! Xobni is making my Gmail look worse and worse every day. Hopefully one day Xobni infiltrates more than just Outlook :)
- axod 18y agoOut of interest, what features does Xobni have that Gmail is lacking?
- brent 18y agoI'm going to take a stab in the dark (I've never used Xobni) and say: 1. Search your Yahoo! Mail without leaving Outlook 2. Instant Facebook Status and Photos 3. Smart Skype Integration 4. Hoover’s arms you with instant research on your contacts’ employers
- crabapple 18y ago2. Instant Facebook Status and Photos why stop at that? gmail integrates the ENTIRE INTERNET!!! here's stunning secret (using ff key shortcuts): - when in gmail, hit "ctrl-t" - done!
- lux 18y agoIn short, lots. I think Xobni's person-oriented metaphor is a very strong one. It doesn't replace Outlook's UI, but it does add a lot of value to it. In Gmail, I end up with dozens of labels and filters putting mail in each of those labels. Many of them basically group mail by people, which is Xobni's strength. I love the idea of seeing that person and all conversations you've had with them separated out without having to create that through a label system. It's such a common thing to want to reference, but not as easy as it could be in Gmail. It's also great to have quick access to files sent by that person, separate from emails. Digging through emails to find the right one that a file attachment was attached to is no fun in Gmail or pretty much any other mail program. Xobni wins on this front big time. Another is seeing relations between people. I do this by filtering groups (usually by common domain, but then there are exceptions for personal email addresses too) into their own labels like "Client X" and "Client Y" for my most active clients, since keeping them all in one stream is just too much to manage. But being able to quickly drill down to Joe who works with Steve when Steve mentioned something Joe was supposed to send you would be really nice. Another Xobni win there too. Gmail Labs sounded like a good idea, but while a few are pretty useful, most of the options in there are a joke. A snake game? Come on. Randomized signatures? How about selectable signatures already? They really need to start thinking a bit bigger to continue improvements. Gmail is far from perfect, and while Xobni isn't a complete client unto itself, it is a nice addition to one to be sure.
- axod 18y ago"It's also great to have quick access to files sent by that person, separate from emails. Digging through emails to find the right one that a file attachment was attached to is no fun in Gmail or pretty much any other mail program" Seems like you haven't worked out the 'search' functionality on gmail. Why are you grouping/labeling/etc? Just search for someones name and find all their email.
- brezina 18y agoThanks guys! If you want to help us spread the email love outside of our little community, please help us digg this story here: http://digg.com/microsoft/Xobni_did_it_4_reasons_your_Outlook_will_never_be_the_same http://digg.com/microsoft/Xobni_did_it_4_reasons_your_Outloo...
- thehigherlife 18y agothat's the first time i've logged into digg in like... 6 months.
- crabapple 18y agobest approach to de-retarding outlook: don't use it now let me guess a thousand respondents will tell me they are "forced" to use outlook. i call bullshit. where are these mythical phbs that walk around checking on what mail client you are using. and don't tell me you have to use outlook to extract excrete...err exchange calendar notifications...it took me all of about ten minutes to extract those in gnus using elisp
- jgrahamc 18y agoSorry, but you've clearly never worked in a large company that had an actual IT department. There are many, many companies where what goes on your machine is what the company chooses. You are either forbidden, or prevented, from installing anything else. Those people are forced to use Outlook. Also, your average employee is unlikely to replace Outlook with the 'better' solution of extracting calendar information using 'gnus using elisp'.
- axod 18y agoUsing telnet or netcat to access the exchange server is better than using outlook.
- jgrahamc 18y agoUtter, utter nonsense. In non-software companies the applications on the desktop are centrally managed and it's just not possible to use workarounds that engineers would find acceptable.
- axod 18y agoIt's not nonsense, it's my opinion - having used outlook. I simply don't understand how anyone can bear to use outlook. If I was forced in the workplace to use it, I'd quit. Same with IE6. If a company forces you to use either of those, they're clearly not going to be around very long.
- 18y ago
- mattmaroon 18y agoPretty sweet man.
- sahaj 18y agolooks like someone is hoping for a microsoft yahoo merger soon.
- mikkom 18y agoDidn't microsoft already try to buy them?
- justindz 18y agoYes, they turned down a large offer from Microsoft which at the time was debated on HN as either indicating an ace up their sleeve or sheer stupidity.
- dmoney 18y agoIt was $20m[1], which seems large to me, but I seem to remember the argument being made that it was likely too small a return to get their investors to agree to it. [1] http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/30/xobni-walks-away-from-a-microsoft-deal/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/30/xobni-walks-away-from-a...
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- rokhayakebe 18y agoXobni is a very interesting company. It can't wait for the Gmail plugin. I have been using the Xoopit media plugin. It has turned all my pictures into a very nice and simple photo album. It even works well with my files at work. All the documents are organized and you can see those screenshots within gmail without opening a new window. Xobni, when is the Gmail plugin coming?
- rokhayakebe 18y agoCould you explain the downvote? That may be helpful.
- allenbrunson 18y agomy guess would be that it was a karma troll. don't worry about it.