> On Aug 2, 2011, at 7:44 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >
> >> i fucking hate gmail. what a turd that email program is.
> >
> > Why do so many people use it?
>
>
> Because they promised (and kept the promise) of gigabytes of storage. And
> because their performance and some elements of the UI were superior to Yahoo
> and Hotmail. Because it was a vanity thing to do. Because it is web
> accessible, so you can access it from a friend’s computer, a public
> terminal, so on.
>
> But it is still pretty sucky. As with most Google’s products, the UX is
> less than desirable. JF says IMAP sucks, but so what? But IMAP is the best
> way to use a mail server from a full featured mail client. And Google’s IMAP
> is really, really bad because of their muddling their label system with IMAP
> folders.
>
>
Well, that's not exactly what I said. I just said it doesn't really matter
that much to me. And that's connected to the question of folders, and if I
really wanted folders, then, yes, I would hate gmail. But I don't. I'm the
sort for whom the distinction between the inbox and other folders is not
very meaningful. And I think lots of people don't miss folders. Filing my
email is just another onerous task.
If I wanted to use GMail in Mail.app or Eudora or something like that, then, yes, I would be completely put off by the IMAP situation (and I was, when I was wanting to run everything through Mail). But I don't. So I'm not. And I think I'm like lots of people that way.
And for the record, I used to use PINE, too. :-) And Eudora after that. But it's been a long time now.
j