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>> Gmail was perfect. Comments about perfect technology keep popping up on hn. I would think that claiming any technology is "perfect" is a little self-defeat

by aik 14y ago

>> Gmail was perfect. Comments about perfect technology keep popping up on hn. I would think that claiming any technology is "perfect" is a little self-defeating coming from a tech startup news site? The very core of what we all stand for here is advancing mankind (or making the world a better place) through whatever means we are capable (most often technology). Viewing existing technologies as "perfect" closes the mind to the possibilities of better solutions. I wonder how many times throughout history someone has claimed some piece of technology is perfect, and the same person 10 years later chuckles at the thought of having actually used the now-antiquated and clearly-inferior technology.

alphakappa 14y ago
You are probably being too abstract here. What you are saying is true as a general statement, but in Gmail's case, it's big draw was its simple, fast and clean interface that stood as a stark contrast to hotmail and yahoo. The storage it offered was bound to be matched by others soon, but the Ui design was something that could have used incremental feature improvements, not the drastic Web 2.0 treatment it received. Today's gmail interface is hard to use and is slow. Very arguably a far cry from the perfection it seemed to be in 2004.
- aik 14y ago
  I agree it was good, and probably better in the past just because it was faster and less cluttered. But this attitude: >> I'm going to hope and pray that google stops screwing with their interface design. I don't agree with, and this is part of what I was addressing as well. I hope they do continue screwing with their interface design, but obviously I rather hope and pray that they improve it rather than make it slower and more cluttered. It doesn't make sense for me to happily use Google products and simultaneously fear that if they touch them they will make them worse. They are the owners of the product, so either I trust that they have some competency or I look elsewhere.
balac 14y ago
"Perfect", especially in terms of UI is extremely subjective. I personally prefer the new Gmail design.
deleted 14y ago
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by aik 14y ago

alphakappa 14y ago

You are probably being too abstract here. What you are saying is true as a general statement, but in Gmail's case, it's big draw was its simple, fast and clean interface that stood as a stark contrast to hotmail and yahoo. The storage it offered was bound to be matched by others soon, but the Ui design was something that could have used incremental feature improvements, not the drastic Web 2.0 treatment it received. Today's gmail interface is hard to use and is slow. Very arguably a far cry from the perfection it seemed to be in 2004.

aik 14y ago
I agree it was good, and probably better in the past just because it was faster and less cluttered. But this attitude: >> I'm going to hope and pray that google stops screwing with their interface design. I don't agree with, and this is part of what I was addressing as well. I hope they do continue screwing with their interface design, but obviously I rather hope and pray that they improve it rather than make it slower and more cluttered. It doesn't make sense for me to happily use Google products and simultaneously fear that if they touch them they will make them worse. They are the owners of the product, so either I trust that they have some competency or I look elsewhere.

balac 14y ago

"Perfect", especially in terms of UI is extremely subjective. I personally prefer the new Gmail design.

deleted 14y ago

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