What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft? 279
caluml writes "There is a humourous look at "What would happen if Microsoft had designed GMail". Gems include: "Another security measurement we'll add is that you won't be able to log-in with just username anymore but are required to enter the full username@gmail.com. Furthermore, we will change the browser URL from 'http://gmail.microsoft.com/' to the more professional looking 'http://by114w.bay114.gmail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx?rru=home'.""
Yahoo (Score:5, Funny)
Hm.. (Score:4, Funny)
Sort of like if Microsoft designed the iPod box?
Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
What if...... (Score:3, Funny)
Moogle? (Score:4, Funny)
Another modern classic: What if Google search had been designed by the guys behind Windows Search
"Award for the Silliest User Interface: Windows Search" [secretgeek.net]
Re: What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slashdot gmail (Score:5, Funny)
1) Strange, fixed "color" scheme;
2) Cluttered, but oddly comforting and hyperconfigurable, user interface (except the colors);
3) Random in-joke-based poll every 18 months;
4) Almost usable search engine;
5) People who want to contact you first email editors who then "approve" or "reject" incoming emails based on their personal taste;
6) Arbitrarily assign other users to read your email and act as moderators;
7) AC option gives spammers a fair shot (albeit at a lower mod base) -- don't forget to check AC before emailing something really stupid like this post;
You know, it just might work!
Re:Hm.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hm.. (Score:5, Funny)
What if Microsoft had designed anti-baldness cream? [wordpress.com]
What if Microsoft designed a house? [planetperplex.com]
What if Microsoft designed the Katana? [dkimages.com]
Can I get some AdSense money now?
Re:Slashdot gmail (Score:5, Funny)
Actually if MS had designed it (Score:1, Funny)
Oh! And spam would open itself for you!
*Oh, and yes, I do program using MS. Eh, it's a living
What if.... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh...
Re:Hm.. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hm.. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:They have design a webmail site... (Score:5, Funny)
I suppose switching to Hotmail Classic (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hm.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:the reason you have to put the @ (Score:4, Funny)
We considered that, but then we'd have to add a set of radio buttons there that say "Use the same domain name as in the URL" and "Always use the domain name: ___", and then we'd have add a "Remember my answer (in a cookie)" checkbox, and then a *second* checkbox to ask if you want to remember the setting of the first checkbox. (I think most people do not realize how difficult it is to write good software.) It did get through testing but the marketing people complained it took too much space away from possible banner ads.
In the end, forcing people to type "@hotmail.com" a lot isn't a bad thing: we're reminding them about our great brand. Whenever people spend time on Microsoft sites but thinking about cool brands we bought like "Hotmail" instead of losing brands we built like "Microsoft", that's a win for us.
- Love,
The Hotmail Team
Re:Slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I do remember hotmail before M$ got into it... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Slashdot gmail (Score:2, Funny)
What did they do? Make it easier to turn the checkbox back off?