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Google is discontinuing Inbox

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Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#331

Post by mr_toad »

schintan wrote: post #195
Ajedi32 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bundles don't skip the inbox; that's the point. Stuff in your inbox is stuff you haven't had a chance to deal with yet; prematurely moving emails out of your inbox that you haven't had a chance to look at would break that workflow.

not a inbox user, but cannot something similar be done with gmail tabs ?

The beauty of inbox was that you didn’t have to set anything up. Promotional emails, newsletters, bills etc just went to the appropriate bundle. 99% of the time it Just Worked.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#332

Post by plttn »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #313
collinmanderson wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Thank you! Snoozing emails changed my life. The one thing I miss from Inbox is being able to see my Done/Archived emails in the order archived. (So I can see recently archived emails, even if they're old emails.) Swipe to snooze would also be nice.

For the first time ever, today I saw a message in Gmail that my email was snoozed. Is it possible they are just incorporating these features into Gmail? That it was like a safe sandbox for working this stuff out before making at least some of it standard?

Yes. Gmail got Smart Reply, snoozing. Bundles are coming soon, and Smart Compose built on Smart Reply.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#333

Post by mezzode »

Inbox has got to be the single most useful productivity tool for me. Pinning, bundling, and snoozing just make managing emails so quick and efficient since you can easily triage and get rid of what doesn't matter, and Gmail as it currently stands just can't compete.

If bundling and pinning aren't brought over to Gmail like snooze, Gmail is basically dead to me from an efficiency perspective since manually selecting what you want to remove takes significantly longer than pinning and sweeping in Inbox.

Worse still, there's the opposite problem if we wanted to build an Inbox successor on top of Gmail since while bundling and pinning would be easily implemented by the client, snooze is still not part of the Gmail API[1] so there would need to be a completely separate layer of snoozing in the client.

Honestly, if a competitor were to rise and implement Inbox's feature set, my money is on the table.

[1] https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/109952618

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#335

Post by vagab0nd »

I'm a little confused by the replies here. From the source article from Google [0], it sounds like they are planning on merging Inbox features back into Gmail and focusing on one product instead of two. They even put out a transition guide. I think long term this is a good thing. Why are people freaking out?

0: https://www.blog.google/products/gmail/inbox-signing-find-yo...

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#336

Post by cdaringe »

I can never relate to people's love of this product. To me, it added noise and complexity to an otherwise simple email system. I aggressively tag, archive, and delete mail. I process and/or backlog messages in conjunction with calendar to always keep my inbox to The cognitive overhead to maintain this discipline has and will forever be ~0.

Inbox is pure cruft over native Gmail. That's an offensive opinion to many, I know, but the intrinsic value inbox brings is very low over other highly accessible tooling already available within a few clicks.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#337

Post by Mikeb85 »

This isn't huge news IMO. Lots of the UI changes have appeared in Gmail already and unless they were going to keep changing Inbox it no longer has a raison d'être.

And while I know some people aren't a fan of Google shuttering products, I appreciate that they let you 'test' the bleeding edge if you want.

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#338

Post by Griever »

As a heavy Inbox user this is definitely a bummer, but I do feel a bit relieved to know what is coming to Gmail.

Last month a video showing some future updates to the Material Design components leaked. If you check out https://youtu.be/0mAude0774I?t=1m27s you can (briefly) see that the version of Gmail they're showing has a lot of functionality seen in Inbox, particularly Trip cards and expandable message bodies. Fingers crossed!

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#339

Post by DEADBEEFC0FFEE »

_wmd wrote: post #306
wanderr wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never even tried Inbox because I didn't trust that it wouldn't get killed. Ironically I was just thinking about finally giving it a try since it survived longer than I expected.

I logged in for the first time to see what it was.. same deal here, have stopped adopting new Google products since 2013 (the Reader debacle naturally)

Lol, that's such a strange approach.

Just adopt the new services, and if they disappear, use something else.

What do we exist to persist these days and how long for?

Re: Google is discontinuing Inbox

#340

Post by jeffkeen »

What a cruel joke! That was a really great product.

I've completely given up hope of anything I love in technology lasting unless it's a paid product from a company that doesn't rely on advertising for revenue. Even then it's not perfect, but fuck if this isn't CLASSIC GOOGLE BULLSHIT.

Sometimes it's killing a perfectly good product (ala Reader) after getting everyone to emotionally invest in it, and then there's the equally frustrating aquihire. Sell the lie that the beloved product will continue and that the team is so excited for the Incredible Journey[1] ahead and then bam, bullet to the head. Product killed.

I still have scars from Reader, Sparrow, and Songza. And Mailbox! Looks like I switched to Fastmail just in time to avoid another heartbreak. Not too fancy but reliable AF and not going anywhere. Money well spent.

Between this and Apple's post-Steve product decisions I'm becoming a curmudgeon in this current world of technology, wishing we could turn the clock back the clock nine years to when things made more sense.

But honestly, in my fantasy world you know what I'd love to see? Some sort of statement that went along with an app detailing what their future plan is for cashing out or shutting down. Like, "If we don't survive as a business we will open source our product and provide an avenue for you to continue using it". Or, "We're building a sustainable lifestyle business and are not interested in being swallowed up by Google and being shut down" Or "We're looking to cash the fuck out ASAP! No guarantees; enjoy the ride!"

I have fun dreams.

[1] https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/

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