Earlier this year, I began exclusively using Gmail for my e-mail needs and abandoned Mail.app. After upgrading to Leopard and spotting Gmail's recent IMAP support, I decided to do a backwards trial and attempt to switch back to Mail.app.
First let's talk about Gmail's IMAP support, which I'm not especially pleased with. To get on wireless devices (ie, the iPhone), they had to offer this at some point, but it's just not completely compatible with the way Gmail works. The most egregious thing I found was that every time Mail.app autosaved a draft while I was typing, Gmail would create an entire new message in the conversation. When I was away from my Mac and looking at Gmail.com, I'd see a conversation that had 15+ incomplete replies from me, all nonsense. (Maybe this is just Mail.app but it's unusable)
Second, and more importantly, I want to address my biggest issue with Mail.app. Gmail's killer feature that keeps me sticking with it is Conversations; yes, yes, I realize that Mail has a threads display, but it's just not the same. Conversations keep me organized and represent a significant increase in efficiency. Until Mail.app can duplicate that, I can't use it. I can barely use Outlook at work for the same reason. Mail clients and Gmail's web competitors are simply behind the times until they copy this feature. Mail's display and information design is pretty, and as mail clients go it's usable, but it's not written for straight up efficiency like Gmail is.
Before I get labeled a Gmail fanboy, I'll address the two features that I can't stand on Gmail. First, Contacts is borderline unusable for any professional user, even the new version. No merging contacts and lack of metadata points are my two biggest complaints. I've got a few thousand contacts that are in my personal and professional life, meaning that duplicate cards are inevitable. But Gmail doesn't let me merge them. In fact, I can't even copy the information manually if it contains duplicate e-mail addresses, because Gmail gives an error. In that case, you have to delete the card you don't want (yes, really), and then paste the missing e-mail address into the card you want to keep. Almost completely unusable.
Second, if I'm to use Gmail professionally, I need additional data points in the Contacts screens. I need a space for URL, to mark e-mail addresses as inactive, etc. Why do I need to mark addresses inactive? People change e-mail addresses, but I still want to associate old conversations with them. But I don't want to mistakenly e-mail an old address. For a system that's meant to be a permanent archive of your e-mail and that aims toward professional/geeky users, this sort of detail makes all the different.
I'm sticking with Gmail, but the devil is in the details, Google, and I get the feeling that you're falling behind.
Recently in Mac Category
Has anyone else experienced incompatibilities between Leopard and Last.fm's Scrobbler? Even after re-installing Last.fm, I can't get the scrobbler to start correctly. Instead, I get two copies - one works, one doesnt, and it won't scrobble from my iPods anymore.
Any hints?
Update: Looks like (as expected) Last.fm is on the case and working on fixing the issues. Though I have to say I agree with the "Is this what passes for professionalism in Web 2.0" comment (check the Last.fm thread and you'll understand).
Update II: This might fix things, but I'm not near a Mac to test right now.
Worked like a charm, and yes, Leopard is faster than its predecessor. I'd like to see someone claim that about Vista! Right now I'm waiting for the first Time Machine backup to complete (42gb takes a while).
So I'm taking the plunge and installing OSX 10.5 Leopard tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.
(Also, comment: Apple did a fairly cool thing on their online store. They didn't talk about shipping times, costs, etc. They just said "Ships free. Arrives October 26." And it did, even though I ordered it yesterday.)
If in 2009 we’re using Yahoo! or Rhapsody or some new subscription service to get our Music on our Apple hardware, does Apple care? No. They never have. So long as we’re buying their circuitry, they don’t care where we’re getting the music from. And they’ve shifted the hardware tide irreversibly and created momentum that’ll easily carry them through Steve’s retirement if not Steve’s.I certainly find this interesting, not just because Ian is an intensely smart blogger and one of my favorites, but because I've heard it a few times before and it rings true. Apple is in the business of selling hardware, but from the beginning they've recognized that superior hardware is useless without superior software/services/content. Sure, they had a few missteps in the 1990's (remember when everyone said Apple wouldn't exist next year/month/week??), but once they realized that content is king, they used it as a vehicle to sell hardware. The strategy so far has gone like this. Apple wants to sell a new piece of hardware. They recognize early that to do so, and to keep people using Apple hardware, they'll have to redefine and shakeup the marketplace for the first few years while their competitors struggle to catch up. Those crucial few years give Apple the opportunity to sell hardware at a significant price premium. Their strategy to shake up the market has been to offer nominal hardware packaged with superior software/services. If the iPod were just another MP3 player (and they did exist back then!), it might well have been a flop. But Apple came up with three killer features that redefined the entire marketplace. First, the iPod could hold all of your songs - not just the 30 you could fit on your legacy flash-card player. Second, it allayed music industry fears by selling music to consumers. Finally, it bundled software that made it dead simple to manage your music. That blew everyone out of the water. Why would anyone want a non-iPod? The strategy worked well for a few years, but what we're seeing now is that Apple did a good job of adapting along the way. Content companies are now balking at Apple's restrictions on iTMS pricing, DRM, etc. But my guess is that Apple doesn't really care because iTMS seems to be a high cost, complex business that isn't terribly profitable on its own. (This report disagrees) But the key is that by selling so many iPods and redefining the standard, Apple has now forced content industries to continue to offer iPod-compatible content. If the music and video providers don't want to continue with iTMS, they'll have to go DRM-free, which was probably the goal all along. After all, it sells more iPods. Maybe an even better example is the iPhone. Apple saw an opportunity to sell high-margin hardware by redefining the software and user experience. They wouldn't have just sold another mobile phone - it had to change the market so they could maintain their price premium. They not only redefined how a mobile phone should work, they forced an upgrade of services from AT&T (visual voicemail, unlimited data at a reasonable price). It will take Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, Verizon, Sprint, etc at least two years to catch up with the initial iPhone. They've taken *both* parts of the cellular/mobile industry and turned them on their heads. It's the Apple way.
While I was recovering from the long flight back from Japan on Monday, I wandered up to the Apple store to purchase one of those hot new keyboards (= FANTASTIC) and check out iLife 2008. I picked up a copy, imported my photos from the trip, and promptly got tired and left them there.
This morning, I decided to spend 15 minutes before work beginning to review and crop a few photos. I was delighted to learn that iPhoto 2008 is ridiculously fast, efficient, and yes, fun. I ended up getting through a good 30 photos before forcing myself to put down the mouse and head off to work.
iLife 2008 = highly recommend.
Does anyone else have huge memory issues with Firefox? I know my Macbook is a bit light on RAM (1GB), but Firefox is ridiculously sloppy with its memory usage. Things were running a bit sluggish earlier - Firefox was eating 450MB of real memory and 2.7GB of virtual.
I realize I'm a bit of a power user and open a bunch of tabs at once, but I do try to keep it under 25 or so, and I close them as soon as I'm finished. It really shouldn't be quite so bad.
I did a bit of digging and implemented these tips to try to reduce usage. Any other tips I should know about?
