When i saw the first design iteration, i was wondering where is the huge banner that takes up at least 1/4 of the screen estate, and here it comes :)

Woo.. You should have named that Microsoft e-mailScrubbed.

Wonderful I must say except for the fact that I would have also liked to see a SWEETLY annoying snapshot of a totally unwelcome "Full Page Pop-Up ad that says "coolhot(G)Mail" <in this case>" that has a mind of its own and despite not responding to our repeated clicks on the "close" button, somehow shrinks on its own accord to the top banner and obviously continues to blink there. (how naive')

:D Cheers

digg.com/software/What_If_Gmai ...

I really enjoyed this post! But this you have to admit, the design would be much much better!

Miguel
www.lomelino.be

Hahaha, that's funny. I like it, well done!

While it is pretty funny I am pretty sad due to the latest fix gmail got. It has become so sloooow, not only on startup, but also in use.

Shouldn't it be 2000Kb (i.e 2 MB) or was I plain lucky to get that much space, back in those days?

just.... LOL

Oops, you are right Dev...

Edit: Upgraded the Hotmail storage in the post from 200 KB to 2000 KB :)

This is brilliant – hope the designers take a lesson. I would go to msn.ca (I'm Canadian) if their page was more usable, and less commercial... but so it goes.

Cheers,

Mungo

[Signature removed]

"Voila, we’re done... that was easy! Your potential, their passion. Coming up tomorrow: “What if Microsoft had designed Windows Vista.” Stay tuned!"

LOL, you really got me laughing there.

Brilliant--------------- now can you put up a "GMAIL BY YAHOO" also. Would be nice to see that also

This actually looks like yahoos email

how about what if microsoft acquired google and implemented google search?

Hmmm... I actually wouldn't mind something like a reading pane option. Although I have been hoping for a Google Reader type thing in GMail for a while, I doubt that's very feasable though...

hahahahahaha
best post i've read this month!

this is made of win.

don't you mean "what would have happened if *google* had designed vista" – now that would be interesting

The story is very funny, nice job!

yes, but what if google had designed gmail? instead of throwing together something that makes pine look like the mona lisa.

Okay, and what would happen if Apple designers have created Gmail, as .mac for example ?

I think it´s missing something... oh, it's the two hundreds and fifit four links that you'll never use. =)
And I don't think google would design or create such a bad thing as vista. =)

"Voila, we’re done... that was easy! Your potential, their passion. Coming up tomorrow: “What if Microsoft had designed Windows Vista.” Stay tuned!"

What do you mean? Microsoft designed Vista. So, why "what if" ?

Or did you mean "What if Google had designed Windows Vista" ?

Justin, I think that was meant to be a joking suggestion that perhaps Vista wasn't really 'designed' that much at all.

dave and Justin, I think Philipp's tongue was firmly in cheek when he said:

   "What if Microsoft had designed Windows Vista."

(i.e. What if Gmail had been designed by Microsoft? It would turn out to be a real mess... So what if Microsoft had designed Vista? Oh... they *did* design it... maybe that explains a few things then!)

Phillip you did it again. Unbelievable.

Hilarious!
btw, you're on reddit home page now!

You forgot to use the 10px Verdana font, not to always see well, what is on the screen.

oh... don't forget the ad on the bottom of all your emails!
If there's no ads it's not Microsoft™!

I love you!

If Microsoft had designed the iPod package:

video.google.com/videoplay?doc ...

Of course, you'd also have to slow the search down about 100 fold; deleiver 6 different versions, and leave really big, well-labeled security holes.

I'm a Gmail user, but this blog is losing its focus. If you want to talk about Google, excellent. Don't try to be smug by making fun of other companies' products to try to prove Google's "superiority." There is a lot that Google has crapped up, and it's starting to happen more often. There a lot of things that Microsoft and Yahoo are getting right, and that Google needs to work on, too.

Justin: Lets say this much; he did not write "What if Microsoft had designed Windows Vista" by misstake.

Really great and entertaining text. Thanks for that. :)

And an intersting discussion at reddit.com/info/610oo/comments ...

Hat off!!!!!!! You've make my day! :)

Now, I bet that Steve Ballmer didn't get it. You should put a dancing monkey instead of that puppy. Then he might get it.
:) :) :) :) :) :)

Good post. It was fun to read and I think pretty similar to what would have happened to Gmail if it was ever released by Microsoft. :-/

<blockquote>"I’m also putting less emphasis on search, moving the box to the bottom right and replacing it with a dog"</blockquote>

Hilarious!

Oooh, looks like you touched a nerve there with someone.

Excellent!

I think what some people missed about the last sentence is that to apply the term design to anything Microsoft has done, recently anyway, is an insult to people who do design for a living.

As someone who was an early user of both Microsoft and Yahoo products I'm glad Google came along to give me a place to flee to.

Nothing wrong with a little reminder of just how bad it could get, ad yes, let's hope Google never goes in that direction and continues to learn from both its mistakes and those of others.

You should throw in the paperclip for good measure.

Except that doesn't look anything like Hotmail. I'm a user of both Gmail and Hotmail. The only difference besides the color scheme (which are both equal in my book) is the banner ad at the top of the page for MS. For Gmail, it's in my mail when I'm reading the actual mail. Outside of that, they are presented in the same manner.

Re: annoying security. Gmail assumes I'm an idiot and won't let me mail zipped EXE files to myself.

Gmail definitely blew hotmail away when it first started (and got me to switch over), but gmail hasn't done much recently. The drag-and-drop and reading pane are great features in hotmail, especially for those of us used to Outlook. And the space in hotmail isn't really an issue now, but great criticisms of a 2004 webmail client!

Dude, Hotmail was designed years ago by the Israelis and that was par for the course. The new Windows Live Mail is actually pretty slick and was the first to go to 5GB many months ago when Google was stuck at 2.x GBs. Also, Google basically alone among email ISPs didn't allow IMAP for years because it was full of assclowns unwilling to admit that its label tagging scheme was a bunch of shit that nobody wanted.

I hadn't realized that Msft Live had so many ads. I usually use Outlook Express and the difference is quite evident.
I dislike Gmail though because I don't want Google perusing my emails and pestering me with personalized ads.
I have been using Hotmail since '96 and I have yet to switch to Gmail or something better.

Oh yeah, that is a home run. Let's replace search "...with a dog." Great post.

Very scary. You guys are ill informed sheep and will lead us into damnation.

...This article is typical of the one eyed bullcrap ruining the net these days.

Just to add some perspective for you kids :

Microsoft acquires hotmail in Jan 1998.
Gmail starts private beta in 2004..

Microsoft puts bigger adds ont he pages because it doesn't READ YOUR EMAIL and store the information it gathers from you for ever and ever amen.

Of course, Gmail is a nice app – but just remember Microsoft were making money from 'free' email accounts while Larry and Sergey were playing Nintendo.

Dude!! Made my day... all so true!!

I think maybe Microsoft should get out of the email business.

microsoft does have an email service. it's called hotmail and it looks nothing like your hack job. Let's be honest, you're just a Google/Apple fanboy. Go suck it.

There is no dog in Vista by the way.

To the last line, Vista was indeed designed by Microsoft and you have to give credit when it's due; I agree though that Hotmail interface is the worst of all three major web mail services.

It looks like MS interface designers can't differentiate the difference between the desktop experience and the web experience; they seem to want to give "rich" interface for the web and seriously fail.

> "What if Microsoft had designed Windows Vista"
?

ach, i got it! :D

The problem doesn't just rest on the user experience team (design and usability teams). Windows design is most likely ruled by the business leadership, brand team, and media/ads teams. As a designer, I've had experiences with designs under such manipulative circumstances – where your hands are tied no matter how nice you make the design or how much you argue against a particular direction. Sure, they like to talk about making the user happy, but the second you push the design into customer friendly territory, someone ends up with their feelings hurt and their pride challenged. The conversations are usually something like: "If we can get that leaderboard ad below the nav – part of the IAB universal package, btw – we can make x amount of money because we'll be able to sell more ads." Or. "Those colors are too subtle and don't communicate the brand strongly enough. Can we bump up the amount of that color in the design or make the logo bigger?" Or. "<insert exec job title> doesn't like the new design. S/He thinks that we need to do the following. I understand you performed usability tests that show the opposite, but So-and-so is the <insert exec job title>."

I don't get what the joke is?? I stopped using gmail & writely because googles design sucks. Especially what they did with writely! Google couldn't design something nice looking if they tried! :p

>> microsoft does have an email service. it's called hotmail and it looks
>> nothing like your hack job. Let's be honest, you're just a Google/Apple
>> fanboy. Go suck it.

But it does look a lot like Hotmail/Windows Live email which is where MS is trying to take hotmail.

LOL..OMG-- AWESOME post. I don't see why everyone doesn't just use gmail!! GOOGLE ROCKS!!! They should just buy all the other email sites and convert them to gmail! Who needs MSFT!?!?!!?!?!

[Personal attack removed per forum rules.] this is the dumbest piece of shit ever. M$ would allow you to use it offline, so you can check your calendar there, and read old email messages, and store messages to be sent when your online.

Why are you assuming they'd break apart 'conversations', that is a great feature that was pioneered by gmail, but they haven't perfected it. I still get "RE:" seperated from the main conversation. You'd think gmail would allow you to merge and break apart messages (conversations can divide content).

Since M$ didn't add that feature, they win by having a complete suite. GMAIL on the other hand is lacking features that would make it better, and these are trival things. Makes you wonder what they're focused on

I agree with kalleanka: that's practically a dead ringer for Yahoo!'s beta e-mail client, lending even more credence to the perennial Yahoo-Microsoft merger rumor.

"After we merge, we'll only have to change a few graphics. It's a major win!"

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<<Microsoft puts bigger adds ont he pages because it doesn't READ YOUR EMAIL and store the information it gathers from you for ever and ever amen.>>

Are you kiding? Of course they do. They just don't tell you that they do. You think that when you delete an E-mail it gets deleted of ALL of their servers?

You can tell this post's been dugg :-)

Hilarious! I guess the POP, Forwarding & IMAP would be crippled too unless you pay for the premium. LOL!

Well I hope it's them and not the Lifehackers :D
lifehacker.com/software/notag/ ...

... "what if gmail had been designed".. if it was then i'd use it..

"I’m also putting less emphasis on search, moving the box to the bottom right and replacing it with a dog", <-- hahaha you are the best

excellent post! very funny indeed.

I think you missed something. GMail uses AJAX, which is based on technology that MS created as ActiveX objects so you could do Outlook over the web.

In other words, MS already designed this, and GMail piggybacked on the technology supporting it once it was widespread in non-IE browsers.

I don't think you have to go too far to figure out what MS would have designed.

Bill Gates and his crew are going to see this and say, "I don't get it. It looks great doesn't it?"

I think the new Yahoo email totally beats Gmail. My Gmail box is full of spams, I am surprised a 3 year old email address can be quickly caught by spamers with a moderate usage at most. My 8 years old, heavy used yahoo mail does not have all the spams like GMail does, and the user interface from yahoo is so much better than GMail, especially with its built-in RSS support.

BTW, GMail 2.0 is so slow, they ruined it.

pfff, this is a total rip of the "What if Microsoft Designed the iPod Package" video. Only this isn't nearly as funny nor done as well.

hey .. did I just a newly designed BSOD screen ??

Wonder if Omar Shahine and gang will comment on this.

and the real deal breaker ...... when you use it to send email to others – your OWN rmail will include advertising . OUCH

hilarious.

ROFL, great Job.

That's quite Microsoftive!

And now I'm physically ill, moments before lunchtime. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

The search/dog comment was the best! Thanks for the pleasent read.

Darren can you elaborate on how AJAX is based on tech developed by MS?? wtf!?

This is one of the funniest posts I have come across recently. Well done :)

This was hilarious! Hopefully they will listen to you and put less UI tax on user.

Micro$oft would also make sure to figure out a way to charge users for the pleasure of using its service. Fitty cents per note, or a dollar a gig. Something to line its coffers. Bill didn't get to be the richest man on MSearth by giving away the farm.

And don't forget every single email would be trashed if you didn't happen to log in for 30 days!

Nice job! Very funny! :-)

Hahaha. There is a lot to bash MS for, but this is totally nonsubstantive. The only ad I see in my (rarely used) Hotmail account is on the home page. There are NO ads served up when viewing specific emails. Unlike Gmail.
Hotmail has real folders. Unlike Gmail. Hotmail has drag & drop. Unlike Gmail. Hotmail has sorting. Unlike Gmail.

I still prefer Gmail over Hotmail for a number of reasons, but your post is totally off-base.

To the Yahoo email poster: I find that Yahoo has absolutely the WORST spam filter. Lots and lots gets through, and they have real problems with legitimate mail getting routed to the bulk folder. Gmail has the BEST spam filtering, IMO, with almost zero false positives and false negatives.

What a complete waste of time. Get a job, loser!

^
bump

What Gort said

"need to camouflage the checkboxes" HAHAHAHAH

I'm dissapointed with this fanboy post. You're far too overzealous in your attempt to bash Microsoft, even stretching to compare Gmail with features MSFT upgraded years ago.

Aside from a few remarks such as the checkboxes and the reading pane, your criticism is barely funny. I feel as though I've just read a 14 year old boy's first blog post – and you're trying way too hard to get onto digg.

"camouflage the checkboxes" I always found that funny.

Honestly though I LOVE my live.com email accounts. If you haven't seen it lately it is really nice.

Leave Gmail as it is and forget a hotmail looking which is barely a jerk.

I think all would like to see what happens if Lotus would design gmail.
I see error messages like "User has no randomized windows left"
and menus such as File-> Use-> Stuff-> Reply

haha, great post

MS bashing is soooo eighties... try to catch up, the new trend is to bash google ;-)

Awesome! I loved it.

:)

This guy is a genius!

but windows vista is made by microsoft... so i donno wat ur next post will be... but this 1 was good

What about the fact that you have to go down the list and select every piece of rogue spam that "somehow" gets into your inbox one at a time? I think that's a feature that needs integrating into email: the "all or nothing" checkbox. There always comes a point where you want to select EVERYTHING on a page, and not just unread mail.

Great article!

What I am wondering, though: When will Google make the new design available for Apps costumers? And why are paying Google customers often the last ones to get new features (was the same with IMAP support)???

<<(was the same with IMAP support)???>>

I don't know about you – but I got IMAP on my apps account b4 my Gmail acct. But good point anyways. I would love G2.0 on my Apps.

Maybe they want to get out the glitches and see the response b4 potentially slowing down paying and working costumers.

frankgmail.com? That's a pretty good email address. :)

Don't you mean at the end: "Tomorrow 'What if Google had designed Windows Vista?'"?

This is hilarious. Thanks for your effort, dude. Made my day :)

Frank Taylor:
Here's my interpretation: "What if Microsoft had taken the time to actually deliver a good design for Vista?"

I read it as, "what if Microsoft had designed Windows Vista, Not Apple..."

For those who still don't get it, "What if microsoft hadn't copied OS X", anywaythats my guess...well philip, who's on the right track

Wow, how can so many of you miss the point re. Vista? Let me help you. I think you're all reading it like this:

   “What if *Microsoft* had designed Windows Vista” – when it's really
   “What if Microsoft had *designed* Windows Vista”

:-)

And what did I say?

Ionut, you win, I did not read through all the 106 messages :-)

lol, that is so true. i have a windows live hotmail account, and it is slow on my laptop because it supports drag and drop features, not to mention all the ads. i have ad block now, so that gets rid of the ads, but i still use gmail as my primary email. so much faster, simpler to use, and better designed. one feature gmail is missing as far as i am concerned is folders. gmail seems to be fonder of labels than filters.

badass!

Is anyone else depressed that so many people didn't GET it?

the vista comment was a joke. if you didn't get it, forget it.

<<Is anyone else depressed that so many people didn't GET it?>>

I'll chime in as #2

I rarely, if ever, comment on blogs. However, you truly deserve a comment today and that's KUDOS!

Great post. You hit a home run!

Awesome. Microsoft should learn from this...

That was the funniest thing I read today – thanks!

Gmail by Microsoft exists. It's called Hogmail.

Good One!

Don't forget the "feature" where it only works with Internet Exploder...

er... all you did was mimic windows live mail. that's not wit. (or the least bit creative)

"what if windows had designed vista", however, will require a great deal of creativity...

Just as an aside:
You mention, in passing, that G-chat is annoying and you don't want it. Browse down to the bottom of your Gmail and select the link which turns it off.

Great post & congrats on making it on the nytimes "Technology Headlines".

OUTSTANDING! FATALITY! FLAWLESS VICTORY!

LL:
You can't remove the chat window with the new version of GMail. I use a greasemonkey script to do it.

I so hate MicroS**** :) fuj!

Gmail Rocks!

This was lovely :)

Waiting for tomorrow..

Excellent

Microsoft rarely if ever even designs anything, they are copycats. So, they would have bought google mail, just like they bought Hotmail (couple of guys from Apple sold it for $400 million to them).
Then Microsoft would have proceeded to ruin it just like this article says.

My Live mail looks great, but then I use Firefox with Adblock Plus

here's what it looks like when I first login:

thebasementlan.org/upload/Live ...

I really like microsoft's color theme they are soothing to eyes.

"if Microsoft designed Windows Vista"

frankly, i'd be interested to see what it would look like if ANYONE had 'designed' windows vista.

i believe Microsoft 'spawned' Windows Vista.

Excellent job, again.

I forgot, "I’m also putting less emphasis on search, moving the box to the bottom right and replacing it with a dog:"

Just so dry yet so perfect!

Grow up.

One word: Lame. Stop kissing Google' ass.

ahaha~ can't wait to read tomoro's topic =p

I am constantly amazed at crp Microsoft making nowdays.

Bill keep telling how US has no talent.

Fine, keep that Indian crp.

Loved it!

Enjoyed this, thought the post started well, but then way over the top at the end.

You do realise the link to that gmasil page is already something like...
mail.google.com/mail/?auth=DQA ...

And if you wactually wanted to compare links to login...

mail.live.com
mail.google.com

...But I'm just being picky.

Now-a-days I actually prefer the Windows Live look, despite the ads. My gmail inbox comes across as cramped because of their desire to show me the last 50 emails in a small a place as possible. I just wish WLMail could load at a decent speed.

i like Gmail speed.
this is loving

Talk about ass – kissing

Made my day of swearing at prototype far more enjoyable :)

Nice Take on MS! :-)

They tryin Damn hard on the looks these days...
Giiven DISK SPACE is not a major concern!

Visual Effects to "Bytes used to display it!" ratio must SUCK big time!

go no holds barr on Vista!! lookin fwd... he he he....

Mockery at it's best.

Why did you choose to hammer Microsoft ? Yahoo is even worse than MS on spam "MANY FLASH BANNERS , SMILEY CENTRAL, VIAGRA ADDS etc etc.

Anyone who thinks there is FREE EMAIL should think twice!

:-)

mock them, you imbecile. if you dare, check out Windows Live maps.

brian s : here's a samosa, i produced it this morning just for you.

A few comments. First Gmail is actually way more cluttered than Hotmail. Second, you can go straight to the inbox in Hotmail by checking that option in options. And third and finally: Gmail has ads and Hotmail, in fact, has none. That's if you are running Adblock+ ;).

(Actually I use Yahoo Mail!, but I signed up for Gmail and Hotmail today to check them out. So these are just first impressions)