Comments on: Email. Thought it was going somewhere?

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:37:46 +0000

I’m looking forward to an open platform that combines communication. I don’t think email is going anywhere for the foreseeable future but you never know (to Nabeel’s point).

By: Richie Hecker

Richie Hecker — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 07:40:00 +0000

Darren,

i agree with an open platform. I actually think facebook has the potential to become this – if they want to. Actually this sounds like the Cisco Human Network commercial what you describe. I agree that there is a lot of innovation today but not a lot of intelligent innovation. Most innovation is in features not functions and a lot of crap “web2″ ideas are out there would be lucky to be features or are just not long term plausible. I think the biggest problem with innovation is that most the people innovating don’t have any experience or are looking at an exit instead of trying to build value and thus creating useless things. I think a lot of entrepreneurs today just need a lesson in marketing.

In terms of email, i think we need a singular communication platform – Meebo + Gmail in imap + file storage/sharing = total communication

my 2 cents…

Richie

By: Richie Hecker

Richie Hecker — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 07:38:33 +0000

Darren,

Richie

By: nabeel hyatt

nabeel hyatt — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:37:39 +0000

“most alternative methods, like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, require both the sender and the recipient to both be on the same social network”

Just to be devil’s advocate here, I remembered a professor in a computer science class telling me once (a while ago obviously) how email was wonderful for university use, but it would never replace sending a letter. Why? Because you always knew that a person had a postal address, but email was a “closed system” you needed a username & password for.

Anyone who think email can’t go away should keep a sense of history. Of course it can go away (or at least be rendered irrelevant for most use cases). If everyone has a IM account, or a Myspace account, or some interoperable standard yet to come about then it very well might.

Most teens these days don’t use email. By the time they become bosses, they may not want the people they hire to use email either.

By: Lee

Lee — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:09:39 +0000

No, it should probably be called Port Authority!
That’ll give it just the right image it needs.

By: Nate Westheimer

Nate Westheimer — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:47:09 +0000

Different channels / different uses. There are a million reasons to communicate, and there will be an increasing number of ways to do so. Reasons and channels will match-up, shuffle from group to group, but Charlie’s right: most jobs and partnerships will continue to be foraged through email and telephone over FB and Twitter.

By: Chris Grayson

Chris Grayson — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:44:23 +0000

This reminds me a bit of a post on my blog a few months back.
(linked with my name)

On GigantiCo, July 13th,
>
> …we are too close to it… this is a product of working in the industry…
>
> The first thing that is immediately apparent is that Email and Instant Messaging
> are still the killer apps, and that the people you really know are in your Phone list.