03.15.08

Gmail & LinkedIn

Posted in Personal at 4:34 am by Tyler Reguly

I've already partially talked about this recently but I wanted to bring it up again.

I'm a huge Google fan... I know a lot of people see them as the new Evil Empire, but I really don't see them that way. One of my favourite Google launches was Gmail.  I used it for quite a while and only after Google Apps were released did I leave Gmail, but only because I could use my domain name with all the niceties of Gmail. I use Google Apps for Google Talk, GMail, etc... but I recently logged into my old Gmail account and noticed a number of changes. Gmail is getting a lot of revamp (as is Google Talk inside Gmail)... yet these changes aren't being translated to Google Apps (which I find very disappointing).

Changes:

  • Ability to mute a message -- This would be amazing for someone like me as I subscribe to a number of mailing lists and half the time don't care about the posted drivel.
  • Ability to create a filter right from your inbox -- Another amazing feature.
  • Event Invitations --  Add a calendar entry just like Outloo
  • Group Chat in Google Talk (Gmail's inline chat version)
  • Add AIM Buddies in Google Talk (Gmail's inline chat version)

I know I shouldn't be whining about something that's free, but I view a hell of a lot of ads and I view those ads while reading my email in exchange for all the Gmail functionality. What good is all of this functionality if I'm using an outdated UI with outdated abilities? I might as well go back to my own email hosting (which I'd rather not do).  So to repeat my comment from my last post, I'd love if someone from Google could explain why users of Google Apps aren't getting all this new functionality.

Now the bridge from Gmail to LinkedIn. The LinkedIn Extension for Firefox is broken with the new Gmail UI. It is also broken for users of Google Apps (even though Google Apps is on the old working Gmail UI). If anyone from LinkedIn is reading this... please fix this.

Now that we've bridged to LinkedIn... What's up with the new UI over at LinkedIn? It's a major step backwards from the previous layout. I log in and feel like I'm on Facebook or MySpace rather than a "Professional Social Networking Site". I would LOVE to see a move back to the old version, and based on the discussions I've had with colleagues and the ongoing mailing list threads that I've seen, I'm guessing other people agree with me.

Lastly, on the LinkedIn issue... I haven't heard anything else regarding a LinkedIn App for the BlackBerry... not since Jim asked for some explanations via comment.  So how about it guys? Any word on this yet?