Why no choice with Google Compose?

I'm glad it's going well for you. I've only been trialling it intermittently for about a year. So I'm no expert. You can sign in with your Google password. Zoho also has apps. The way GMail is going I can see me using Zoho a lot more.

 

Outlook.com is "dumbed down" compared to what? It allows everything and with fewer clicks than Gmail.

 

I know it's to soon to be judgmental.
But I am having problems with folders. I can create a folder lets say
"Cars". When I try to move an email I received from Gmail, to this new
folder, it doesn't appear in the "Move to" box. So the message is stuck in
the Inbox.

Also I can find no way to move a 100 or so emails in Gmail to Zoho
other than piece mail.
It's losing it's luster.........

 

I totally agree. Gmail in the beginning was better than the Gmail we have now, imho. Just because something has more buttons to push doesn't mean it's better. Plus, Google just, I don't know, frustrates the crap out of me the way they handle their services. You use one service and then get Labs and every other Google project shoved down your throat or put in your face. I've never liked the fact they scan my friggin emails to throw up their ads at me, and frankly Google has gone from awesome search giant to "Why the hell cannot I not get away from these people?" giant.

Anyway, I can do so much more with less by using Outlook over Gmail. Whether that's searching, archiving or filtering through mail, and far, far larger storage limits and attachment sizes. If I want to use Skydrive or any number of social networks for email purposes, I can do so. MS isn't reading my damn mail to serve up ads, no "Google bar" crap and on and on. Using Gmail is a lot like using iTunes. If you're not heavily invested in the world of Google or the world of Apple, neither service is all that fantastic. Outlook, I can just send and receive email and that's just fine with MS. They don't really care if I use their other services.

 

I use basic HTML view for my gmail ever since it came out 10 years ago or so. I try to resist change as much as possible with my email clients and basic HTML view has changed only minimally since it came out. I use OO for more advanced emails.

 

since some have mentioned the issue of switching email providers, I'll throw this in bc it does not seem too far off topic...I had wanted a certain email address in the past (for instance, JohnSmith@email.com) the name is imaginary and insert yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc for the 'email.com' part. I thought I was simply out of luck as it was already taken with those email providers. But then saw ymail.com and outlook.com did not have many sign-ups yet. Fortunately, when I tried the email I wanted on both it worked. So, just my 2 cents worth, if there is some email name you are really wanting you should hurry and grab it now before it's gone. Outlook.com appears to have many available yet.

 

It doesn't need to be compared to anything to be 'dummified'. It just is. To deny that it hasn't been 'dumbed down' is a naiveté. I suppose it's the overall design aesthetic that doesn't appeal to me. Plus I find it a bit jittery to use. These may just be teething bugs however.

It does now, I'll grant you that.

 

Which is why I don't understand the need to 'improve' it.

 

Well, it is free I suppose. I like the fact that I can use its apps & access Google Docs relatively easily. I will have to experiment more with it myself. OK, I am not sure how useful this will be but to the left of the UI towards the bottom left hand corner you can see + Add Apps (right above Groups) click this & add 'Dashboard'. The dashboard may be of some use to what you are trying to achieve.

 

What does "dumbed down" even mean really? Generally, whenever someone says something has been dumbed down, they mean they feel like they've lost functionality or control from a previous state of a program, game, or what have you. The problem with using the term in the case of Outlook.com, is that it didn't exist in any other form. Outlook isn't Hotmail v2. I'll grant you that the UI might not appeal to everyone. I love how everything is simplified, easy to understand and easy to use...but I could do without the "Windows 8" look, the "big blocks" look.

The only problems I've ever had in using it is the fact that it sometimes doesn't want to accept my username and pass, even if I've used copy and paste to enter it. I've had it tell me 3 or 4 times it was wrong before it would finally accept it. That hasn't happened in a week or two, so I assume it was just one of those things.

 

Well, from a semiotic viewpoint I'd say that it is when the end user, Joe Public, the average punter or consumer is generally treated with some disdain or as if they are rather obtuse or slow on the uptake & with a certain amount of condescension by those who are selling them a product. Governments particularly delight in this exercise.

I understand what you are saying, & to some extent I agree that Outlook has been 'simplified' quite adequately. It is pretty ugly though. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there is nothing beautiful or even Zen like about Outlook.

I've had a few glitches with different browsers. I just use Windows Live Messenger now if I want to use Microsoft mail. I can live with the new GMail nonsense. It's just that a lot of my mail will now be in Zoho & AOL from now on.

 

The new compose window allows me to continue browsing through existing emails for reference purposes etc. I welcome the change.

 

De gustibus non est disputandum

Unfortunately, for those of us who are not fanbois & who wish to write real emails it is an annoyance to have to open a new window & then expand it. I still don't see why the Google Borg couldn't give us the choice.

I don't welcome the change. Not only is it redundant & pointless, it is change for change's sake. If you want to browse through existing emails for reference purposes you can always open a new window. How many people need to 'reference purpose' existing emails when they are composing anyway?

The only way that this would be a welcome improvement would be for someone who obviously only writes emails that resemble texts sent by thirteen year old girls to each other when they should actually be paying attention to their teacher in a classroom.

 

I really don't see what the big deal is either way. It was fine before, and I guess it's ok now. After all, it's just web based email in your browser, not some fancy app like Outlook, where everything is adjustable and can be set up perfectly, just the way you like it.

 

It just seems to me like a pointless over-complication. The one thing that I liked about GMail was that it was simple & straightforward at one time. If the revenge of the nerds need to reinvent the compose function why not make it an optional thing?

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. There will always be change, and many times just for the sake of change. Unfortunately, this will ruin plenty of things that were already fine. It seems to be the nature of things in software and computers. I don't think we can fight it Mr Dave.... all we can do is use what we like, for as long as it's available.. and then move on when we need to...

 

That's pretty much what it boils down to. A lot of changes have been made in the industry that were completely unnecessary, and usually it's because of some idea a CEO or the collective higher ups think is just grand, or stockholder pressure. Never mind that customers were quite content before the changes. It's business. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes you look back and think "Why?". I only use Google Earth and Youtube, everything else I long ago switched away from Google.

 

Yes, but I'd just started to use Gmail for most of my correspondence. It had taken me long enough to change from Yahoo! Mail which was once very good but then drastically changed for the worse. I understand that Yahoo! have been having financial problems, so I can empathise with the changes that they had to implement, but the Google anorak & nerd 'development' department really have no excuse. I don't care what any of the fanbois say, this is just not a logical change. It really is a pointless & redundant change & it really does overcomplicate what should essentially be a simple task.

 

I never notice these things. I compose from my email client. Nothing has changed. Earlier I logging in via the web interface and nothing had changed, logged out. Read a blog post of a friend, who hates it, no loathes would be a better word I think. Then I read this thread and signed in again and "well I'll be" was greeted with "Welcome to the new compose".

WOW! It's definitely different. I can see why many don't like it. I could get used to it, but I'll just go back to my client thank you.