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New Google Groups in Beta

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the new-look-for-old-news dept.

qwe writes "Google has apparently launched a new version of their Google Groups, currently in beta. It looks a lot like Gmail. One can attach a star to message threads. One can even create new groups, although they aren't actual Usenet groups."

3 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Promising yet limited... by chrispyman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While the idea of a GMailish like system for newsgroups is a good thing, the whole thing seems limited by the fact that new groups can only be viewed using Google Groups, which gives them less readership.

  2. Single Signon... coming soon to Google. by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How many Google Accounts does one need? Google presently maintains unrelated signons for...

    - Google AdWords (to buy ads with Google)
    - Google AdSense (for webmasters who want to show Google's ads)
    - Google Answers (their rather obscure paid researcher solution)
    - Free SiteSearch (for webmasters who want a custom colorset when users use a Google box on their site)
    - Google API (for programmers who want to use Google via SOAP)
    - GMail (the hot webmail beta test)
    - Google Groups Beta (the new service we're talking about)
    - Blogger (the blog site they aquired)

    Yahoo and MSN/Passort of course have the privacy implications of there being a single-signon accross a wide network of websites some of which are operated by partner companies... but Google is developing the reverse problem. As you move from one service of Google to another, and the user may very well have different passwords at each of the logon points. Very confusing, and an annoyance to users.

    The good news is that Google appears to be in the process of merging these databases for the free services and an account created today for one free services now gets access to all of them except GMail. They are showing signs that they intend on getting AdWords and AdSense into that system as well. Hopefully we'll just need one google.com cookie to get everything Google has soon...

  3. I wish Slashdot would emulate Google Groups' UI by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One thing I've always admired is Google Groups' user interface -- the pane along the left-hand side makes it very clear where you are at in navigating a thread.

    Contrast this to Slashdot, where navigating the comments threads can be very confusing. I wish Slashdot could be re-written to something similar to GG. Anyone know the correct address for submitting this kind of suggestion?

    (Or, on the other hand, any good reason /. is better the way it is?)

    - Alaska Jack