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Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

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Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#171

Post by sorbus »

alexgartrell wrote: post #166
sorbus wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google doesn't have a tendency to change their privacy policy and intentionally release private information, while Facebook does. [EDIT: Changed "the" to "their," and "rules" to "policy," as this makes my sentence both look better and more accurate.]

What about Buzz?

My understanding of that was that the individual in question (was there more than one person?) clicked through confirmation screens without looking at them, assuming that everything would be okay. It is not Google's fault when users are idiots.

However, I may be wrong; I only recall one instance of this happening with Buzz, and may simply have missed other ones.

Other times when google violated privacy which I remember: 1) Accidentally logging packets, which they then told people about and found a good way to delete, instead of just pretending it didn't happen. 2) Releasing emails (and other information?) to governments when required to do so by law, which I consider a valid excuse.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#173

Post by mortenjorck »

ajg1977 wrote: post #13

I will be really interested to see this, because as it stands Facebook's messaging interface is barely any better than 2001's Hotmail (you do get a pretty picture with address autocomplete though). Going from where they are now to anywhere close to being a 'Gmail killer' is a humongous step.

Actually, I think the starkness of Facebook's messaging UI is its greatest strength. If they can somehow make real email as simple as that, abstracting away all the decades-old cruft of email that Gmail only partially abstracts away, it will be quite a formidable entry.

Add a script that allows non-technical users to log into their Gmail account and set up a redirect... and things could get very interesting.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#174

Post by eftpotrm »

slyn wrote: post #59
ericflo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the scariest thing I've read so far today.

1: My daughter just moved into her own house today. 2: Wow, awesome! I should call them to congratulate her! Whats the new house number? 1: Oh, she doesn't have a landline, she just uses her cell phone. 2: That's the scariest thing I've heard so far today. 1: ???... To the newest generations email is an antiquated technology that has no real use among their peers. Eventually they might get some email address for coll…

I may be being slow on the uptake not to have spotted this before, but it hit me last week -

99% of my personal mail - both email and physical mail - is either companies sending out notices (adverts, bills, whatever...) or websites I subscribe to telling me there's something I should see. Direct personal communication has very largely shifted off the platform.

Interestingly, that doesn't yet seem to be the case for corporate communication (into which I include somem voluntary work I do). I still send and receive plenty of email on that account, but this has me wondering for how much longer....

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#175

Post by rapind »

look_lookatme wrote: post #134
shrikant wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent to your point: I suppose @facebook.com will be reserved for employees/contractors only. The Facebook users will probably get either @fbmail.com or @fmail.com. If I were FB, I'd go with the latter, just so that I can say, "Fmail - it's one better than Gmail!" Of course, that opens up a whole raft of other issues, not the least of which is F being right next to G (on my US QWERTY keyboard), so folks keying in a…

Not sure why you think that, Facebook has always stressed one, real identity. If your facebook URL is facebook.com/john.smith, why should your email not be john.smith@facebook.com? Is there a compelling reason? What would be the difference if john.smith became an employee of facebook?

Public profiles are indexed. Knowing the URL would then give you their fb email if it was also based on the same handle (which is certainly the most user friendly). Meaning facebook email will be hammered with spam. It'll be interesting to see what they go with.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#177

Post by drivebyacct2 »

rapind wrote: post #175
look_lookatme wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you think that, Facebook has always stressed one, real identity. If your facebook URL is facebook.com/john.smith, why should your email not be john.smith@facebook.com? Is there a compelling reason? What would be the difference if john.smith became an employee of facebook?

Public profiles are indexed. Knowing the URL would then give you their fb email if it was also based on the same handle (which is certainly the most user friendly). Meaning facebook email will be hammered with spam. It'll be interesting to see what they go with.

Interesting... Not just that, it will be trivial to target spam directly at people and depending on the visibility of their profile, target it based on their public data.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#178

Post by drivebyacct2 »

eftpotrm wrote: post #174
slyn wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1: My daughter just moved into her own house today. 2: Wow, awesome! I should call them to congratulate her! Whats the new house number? 1: Oh, she doesn't have a landline, she just uses her cell phone. 2: That's the scariest thing I've heard so far today. 1: ???... To the newest generations email is an antiquated technology that has no real use among their peers. Eventually they might get some email address for coll…

I may be being slow on the uptake not to have spotted this before, but it hit me last week - 99% of my personal mail - both email and physical mail - is either companies sending out notices (adverts, bills, whatever...) or websites I subscribe to telling me there's something I should see. Direct personal communication has very largely shifted off the platform. Interestingly, that doesn't yet seem to be the case for c…

Cut that crap out. That's why people hate email. It is trivial in almost all cases nowadays to get off of those sorts of lists.

Today I have gotten emails: interview info from MS, an announcement as to why the University's power went out, payroll setup info for my Uni, tech advice from a startup friend, and an email from my TA about my lab today.

None of that would have been visible/accessible or possible to communicate to me through anything besides email.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#179

Post by lmkg »

sorbus wrote: post #171
alexgartrell wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about Buzz?

My understanding of that was that the individual in question (was there more than one person?) clicked through confirmation screens without looking at them, assuming that everything would be okay. It is not Google's fault when users are idiots. However, I may be wrong; I only recall one instance of this happening with Buzz, and may simply have missed other ones. Other times when google violated privacy which I rememb…

The problem, at least right at launch, was not that users were idiots, it was that the confirmation screens that they did read were misleading. The confirmation screen said words whose obvious interpretation was "click here not to use Buzz," but the real meaning was "click here not to further configure Buzz." Users, even non-idiot ones, would be quite reasonable to assume that clicking that button would either deactivate Buzz or never have it become active in the first place, when in fact that button left Buzz running in its default state of sharing personal information with a bunch of people. Actual deactivation was hidden behind a bunch of config menus.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#180

Post by billstr »

ssclafani wrote: post #36
ajg1977 wrote: post #13

I will be really interested to see this, because as it stands Facebook's messaging interface is barely any better than 2001's Hotmail (you do get a pretty picture with address autocomplete though). Going from where they are now to anywhere close to being a 'Gmail killer' is a humongous step.

I heard that Zuckerberg locked Paul Buchheit in a closet and told him he couldn't come out until he cloned Gmail.

maybe they'll let him out on Nov15th then: http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/11/facebook-gmail-titan/
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