101–110 of 155 posts
I saw "Imbox" and thought, I will never use this product.
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I think there's a subset of tech folks that don't really value UX (which is like 90% of hey's value-add). It's the same people that don't understand Slack's value because "it's just over-hyped IRC"
A surprisingly large subset of those tech folks can and does improve the UX of their Mail and Chat life using basic scripting on top of a simple but flexible UI. Both Slack and Hey say F U to that and force you to do everything your way. No standards compliance, no tailoring of the UX to your actual needs.
But what's weird is this sense of anger at products that aren't as flexible. It's like being upset that a new restaurant opened up because they have a set menu and don't let you make your own food. If you like cooking your own meals, great! Keep doing that. This restaurant is for people that want someone else to make a meal for them.
With slack I understand the frustration a little more, since it's something an entire company is going to be using and asking you to use.
Nothing much succeeds in actually changing the way it works.
What does work is developing communication systems unrelated to email ie slack.
My prediction is that Hey will fail but will pivot into something else which the developers will take as a victory.
Is email actually an urgent problem for people? Most of my personal communication is outside of email these days. In fact, I have gmail up for texting more than sending emails. Unsubscribing from commercial email generally works fine. My inbox feels very much under control. Maybe I am just not important enough for an Imbox.
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That’s all super fair, but they also argue this direction allows them to innovate as well. Notably, their direction resembles a rails approach and lets the server do more work. (Because Hey is instead just a standard API client, whereas the client can tell the server things that you just can’t do with IMAP.) I imagine with the Apple situation they are working on adding support currently however, even if it’s reduced.…
What do you think they can do with their custom API that IMAP can't? IMAP has server-side search and a file-based representation of things like configuration. It may not be as easy to write as a JSON API, but once you do, the interface is flexible enough to really accomplish anything.
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That’s all super fair, but they also argue this direction allows them to innovate as well. Notably, their direction resembles a rails approach and lets the server do more work. (Because Hey is instead just a standard API client, whereas the client can tell the server things that you just can’t do with IMAP.) I imagine with the Apple situation they are working on adding support currently however, even if it’s reduced.…
> That’s all super fair, but they also argue this direction allows them to innovate as well. That's true, but I would argue, perhaps somewhat conservatively, that email is an area where we don't want or need much innovation. Email works fine and has for decades. In many cases, "innovation" (except at the protocol level) has made things worse.
The fact they don't support the widely supported IMAP means no easy way to move away.
This is vendor lock-in to their walled-garden. This approach should be killed, dead, before it ever makes it to the end user.
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What do you think they can do with their custom API that IMAP can't? IMAP has server-side search and a file-based representation of things like configuration. It may not be as easy to write as a JSON API, but once you do, the interface is flexible enough to really accomplish anything.
Their whole "filtering everything out until you whitelist the sender" approach which is the one feature that sets HEY apart from the other providers wouldn't really work with normal IMAP. As for IMAP with more JSON there would also be Fastmails https://jmap.io/
Unless I'm missing something about what they're doing, this is a basic SIEVE script that filters anything not explicitly whitelisted into a folder.
Users of every startups: You have a typo Founders: Thanks Users of Hey/Basecamp: You have a typo Founders: No, this isn't a typo. And we built a website to show you're wrong: http://itsnotatypo.com
Genuinely need to block Hey in keywords now. The marketing is too much.
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> The actual solution to getting their app approved is obvious. It's not obvious to me. Mind elaborating on what the obvious solution is? Giving up 30% of your revenue on what's likely to be your largest platform when your competitors don't have to isn't obvious, so there must be another option I'm missing.
Yes, the obvious solution is to implement IAP. This is what Apple says they need to do. That said, they don't have to give up 30% of their revenue, they could make it more expensive to sign up via IAP if they wanted to offset the loss. Not great for the consumer, but at least it would work.
What they're doing is exactly what mafias do. Look for the weak, force them to need your help or else, then extract as much money as you can.
I love Apple and all their products but this services growth strategy is putting a bad taste in a bunch of people's mouths.