In the time I've written 300 or so Movable Type blog posts, I have lost touch with the Blogger Dashboard interface. It's pretty great. Writing, formatting and saving happens so quickly (I suspect a lot of Ajax improvements in the Web interface, for those who know what that means, and I don't include myself in that number).
One feature I like is autosaving -- it's hard to lose something in a browser crash or by inadvertently closing a window. There's more polish coming to everything Google offers, and Blogger is no exception. Google Docs is also getting better, but until it includes a browser extension or other kind of app for printing that doesn't have the constraints of the browser itself, it won't be of that much use to me. I still need to make printouts. It seems that we live our lives -- and our writing lives -- exclusively online, but I'm not all the way there just yet.
While musing on the greatness of Blogger, let me also say that I'm using the new Yahoo Mail beta, which attempts to mimic a standalone e-mail client -- and does a great job at it. Add to that Yahoo's promise of "unlimited" storage and integrated chat client (which works OK but not great) and when it comes to e-mail functionality, Yahoo is currently beating Google's Gmail (which I've never used very much but recently revisited to make just this determination).
It isn't often that Yahoo bests Google, but it's a great thing for Yahoo Mail users.
I wouldn't cry if Yahoo added a Google Docs-like Web-based office suite and an AOL-like storage service like Xdrive. Than I'd never need to leave Yahoo for anything. More than likely, though, Google will steamroll over both Yahoo and AOL with its own office suite and still-in-the-planning Gdrive storage service, along with an improved Gmail.
But for now, there's more than my e-mail address keeping me with Yahoo Mail.
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3 comments:
That's stupid. How can you never use Gmail and then pick it up for a day and try making a meaningful comparison between it and Yahoo Mail? I use Gmail a lot and have used it for more than 2 years and it is incredible.
Just because it does not try to emulate a desktop email app does not make it worse than Yahoo Mail. Gmail focuses on what works best on the internet, and so is tons faster than Yahoo Mail and contains way more features in a much cleaner layout. It was FIRST in integrating "chat" in email, with Yahoo just copying it badly later.
Trust me, Gmail is better than Yahoo Mail. It is even known as one of Google's greatest achievements. That is, I'm not saying it's perfect but it's damn close to being perfect. It is the best email service currently, though.
Gmail is good, but it's not all that and a bag of chips. It's just e-mail.
Gmail is better than the regular Yahoo Mail.
I'm talking about the new Yahoo Mail beta, which represents a huge leap in functionality for the Yahoo platform.
For what I need to do, the emulation of a standard mail client is a very good thing. Seeing the mail in the pane below the list is another very good thing. Gmail doesn't do either one.
Gmail is NOT "tons faster" than Yahoo Mail, in my tests. They are both fast.
I haven't figured out how Gmail chat in e-mail works. Yes, you are correct, Yahoo's chat-in-e-mail implementation is not all that great. But you can still use your standalone Yahoo Messenger client if you wish.
I agree with you that Gmail is a great application, and Google is ahead when it comes to totality of services, with Google Groups, Blogger, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, the best search, Pikasa and more. Yahoo is way behind on most of that. But the new Yahoo mail client is very, very impressive -- or at least it impressed me.
Yahoo has a lot of catching up to do, and for the most part it never will catch up. In search, in the Docs program, it has a long way to go. But for this one application -- e-mail -- Yahoo has acquitted itself quite well. It works great and looks great. There's unlimited storage. Gmail may be great, but it IN MY OPINION has been, for the time being, bested by Yahoo Mail.
I'm sure Google will roll out a new Gmail at some point, and things may change, but for the time being, it is Google that needs to play catch-up.
But look at online storage: AOL has Xdrive, even Microsoft is offering some easy-to-use online storage. Where is Google's Gdrive project? Don't worry, Google fans, the object of your affection will in all likelihood "win," but there are bound to be peaks and valleys along the way.
And I didn't mention that Yahoo 360 has no hope of stealing any of Blogger's market share.
There, Google egos, your massage is complete. Now go redo your e-mail interface and get back to me.
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