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Gmail Launches Add-ons

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Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#101

Post by skybrian »

oliwarner wrote: post #62
skybrian wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, these are integrations that you explicitly install (like installing an app), so that's obviously opt-in. That's a bit different from the adtech stuff many companies do without any benefit to you. Second, why do you ask just about Google and not the other companies involved? For example, if you're interested in the Trello integration, you also need to trust Trello with any data you send there. Presumably…

Opt in isn't enough to stop it becoming a toilet. Years of Britney Spears Naked Screensavers and malware "removers" have taught us that users are idiots. You can net a bazillion users with one "unlimited space" add-on. Obviously, there's some vetting but that doesn't always work. These add-ons could run on Google's servers and only have connectivity to your inbox and session. Instead, this appears to allow companies…

Those are concerns for consumer software (like phone apps), but I'm not sure if these add-ons even work with regular GMail?

They seem to be part of "GSuite Marketplace," which is what businesses use, so presumably the domain admin would also have control over which apps can be installed.

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#102

Post by jwfxpr »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #95
dannyr wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. If you don't count the services that still exists today, Google has killed almost all its products.

> If you don't count the services that still exists today, _____ has killed almost all its products. Is there a company for which that phrase isn't true?

> If you don't count the _____ that [survive] today, _____ has killed almost all its [members].

Aside from the logically redundant phrasing, this seems to me a fair description of how selective pressures lead to evolution in populations.

Yo yes, good point, Google does make efforts to ensure that their population of products thrives, evolves, and adapts.

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#103

Post by Skunkleton »

eradicatethots wrote: post #96
dawnbreez wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Referring to a duck as a swan does not make it any less a duck.

I'll rewrite this comment: "Users are idiots!" Seems like an inappropriate contribution

The average user is a product of your UX and documentation. If it seems like all your users are idiots, then maybe the problem is you?

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#104

Post by eridius »

robotresearcher wrote: post #73
eridius wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scan" means they take the data out of the "email" silo and use it for purposes other than providing email services to the user (such as using it for advertising). Searching is not "scanning". Nor is any other normal behavior of providing email services. So the question at this point is does Google keep your email data silo'd or do they use it for other purposes?

> Searching is not "scanning" Pray, how does it work, then?

Don't be pedantic. Defining "scanning" as "anything that looks at the bits on disk" makes the word meaningless in this context, because then yes, Google must absolutely "scan" it to provide basic functionality, and heck every service everywhere must "scan" their data to provide basic functionality. But that's not useful to talk about.

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#105

Post by lqdc13 »

kennysmoothx wrote: post #89
guelo wrote: post #71

Gmail on Android is such a shitty locked-down experience. Want to create an appointment from an email? Nope. Want to set a reminder about an email? Nope. Want to link to an email from a notes or other app? Nope. OK, well now maybe. If you become a "business partner" with them and shove your product into whatever grand strategery they're cooking up this quarter. It's sad to think how Android was envisioned as this ope…

You can't even have an HTML signature on Gmail for Android. Something so trivial missing from Google's main email client.

To provide a counterpoint, I think it's great the way it is in this respect.

I don't want any of these features and wouldn't want others to use things like HTML signatures.

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#106

Post by icebraining »

DerfNet wrote: post #90
icebraining wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure they scan it, otherwise it'd be hard to catch spam. I don't think they ever said they scanned it for any other reason.

They explicitly used to scan emails for advertising purposes: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-reading-personal-email...

Hence any other reason. Advertising was the reason already in discussion.

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#107

Post by azernik »

guelo wrote: post #71

Gmail on Android is such a shitty locked-down experience. Want to create an appointment from an email? Nope. Want to set a reminder about an email? Nope. Want to link to an email from a notes or other app? Nope. OK, well now maybe. If you become a "business partner" with them and shove your product into whatever grand strategery they're cooking up this quarter. It's sad to think how Android was envisioned as this ope…

Those actions are on the e-mail sender to implement; GMail has an open specification for an e-mail to provide a structured representation of data it contains.

https://gsuite-developers.googleblog.com/2013/05/introducing...

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#108

Post by ents »

alooPotato wrote: post #64
pfarnsworth wrote: post #63

All I want is to be able to define a search, and have gmail separate those into a new tab, with a badge that tells me how many unread emails are there. That's all I want and my productivity would increase drastically. They almost have it with multiple inboxes, but the layout is really shitty and I have to scroll around my gmail window to see the various inboxes. Why can't they just add this as another tab? It's infur…

+1

Does [Gmail quick links](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmail-quick-links/...) not do this?

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#109

Post by icebraining »

eridius wrote: post #86
detaro wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you explicitly authorized them to provide you search and mail-based information in Google Now?

No idea, I don't use Google Now. I hope so, but it wouldn't surprise me if Google "forgot" about that step. But at least that's for the benefit of the user.

According to my understanding of Google's privacy policy, your account data is essentially global by default, they don't need to explicitly ask you service by service where they can use it. IANAL, though.

Re: Gmail Launches Add-ons

#110

Post by [deleted] »

hkmurakami wrote: post #98
guelo wrote: post #71

Gmail on Android is such a shitty locked-down experience. Want to create an appointment from an email? Nope. Want to set a reminder about an email? Nope. Want to link to an email from a notes or other app? Nope. OK, well now maybe. If you become a "business partner" with them and shove your product into whatever grand strategery they're cooking up this quarter. It's sad to think how Android was envisioned as this ope…

Does Outlook on mobile provide these? Iirc desktop outlook could create events/reminders/tasks linked to emails in your inbox.

[deleted]
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