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Offline Gmail Launched
javipas writes "Google developers have announced a new feature part of Gmail Labs that everybody was waiting to see realized. Offline Gmail will allow users to have a partial copy of its Gmail account on their PCs, and access their messages while being offline. The magic of Google Gears comes to the rescue, but the process will not be complete. The syncronization will update the online and offline copies, but Google will use an algorithm that will determine the messages downloaded on each sync (the first being the most important) based on several parameters that point out that message's relevance. This measure will save the process from downloading pieces of information not quite as valuable. US and UK English users can enjoy this feature through the Gmail Labs section."
Isn't this feature already available on Gmail through IMAP?
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
This entirely misses the point! I have this reliably working with IMAP, and for a long time. The whole point of the mobile interface is that you can use it on any machine and keep synced. This solution just creates one more, very imperfect, email client.
The difference would be that the gmail interface is different to the thunderbird interface and I happen to like the gmail one better?
Don't point that gun at him, he's an unpaid intern!
Personnally I'd like to use the gmail interface while offline because I think no mail client has a better interface than Gmail's one.
The conversation mode is not just a thread mode : if you archive a thread but receives an answers related to this archived thread, the whole thread will come accompanied with the received message, which gives you the context of the message while facilitating the management of your inbox. If such a feature was implemented in a mail client, I would use the mail client.
I hate all sigs, mine included.
Oh shut up. gmail offers both POP3 and IMAP.
Why offline GMail? The interface. I love the GMail interface and far prefer it to any mail client I've ever used. (I heard Eudora was going to do an upgrade on Thunderbird, and I'm looking forward to trying it because those were my previous favorites for interface and stability, respectively.)
It sounds like I won't have access to -all- my mail, though, and that's not acceptable.
Someone else pointed out that smartphones and nearly ubiquitous internet connections are making 'offline email' less and less of a problem, though. Since I finally bought a G1, I have to agree. The interface on it is good enough that I don't feel the need to walk to a computer to check my mail now.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
The two arguments against this seem to be (1) people rarely are offline, and (2) IMAP and POP already do this.
Well, if you put those two together, you know why this is a good thing: Gmail+Gears is good for people who are out of touch a few times a year (airplane etc.) and don't want the hassle of setting up a separate mail client and the bother of learning two different mail clients.
And a hassle it is. Right now, I use Thunderbird for off-line access, and I use it so rarely that on the few occasions I start it up, things usually take forever to sync and nothing works quite right.
No, the important development here is that now, you don't need an email client. Ever. again. Install Gears, and you can access GMail even when you're on a train or a flight. Moreover, you can set it up as a launchable application from your desktop using Prism, install GMail Notifier, and have the Notifier use Prism as the default "browser" to launch for :mailto links.
So:
Option 1) Install Thunderbird on every PC, set up connection to gmail
Option 2) Install Gears, Prism, Gmail notifier and/or whatever, set up connection to gmail
I'm going to have to strongly disagree here. Gmail's interface is, hands-down, one of the clunkiest interfaces I've ever seen, and violates dozens of usability guidelines. Look where "Compose" is vs. "Reply" for one great example. How can I sort? What about removing "Labels" from a group of messages? No can do with Gmail.
Put Gmail side by side with something like Evolution and THEN ask what users would prefer. Yes, Thunderbird is clunky, but it wasn't meant to compete with Gmail. Look at something like Novell Evolution that has a LOT more power and flexibility over Gmail and you'll never go back.
Oh, and Evolution has "offline" Gmail as well, and always has. I love how I can treat all of my Gmail accounts as one single account if I want, unify the Inboxes, see all "Unread" email in a single folder (without creating a contrived filter as you would have to in Gmail), sees all folders and "Labels" as standard IMAP folders, allows me to read/reply online or off, and a whole host of other things Gmail can't and probably will not ever do.
Nope, Gmail's web interface is great in a pinch, but for actual, productive use of Email as an application and not just a replacement for "offline IM", I'll stick with Evolution thanks.
And I definitely know of what I speak because I've been doing this for a very long time (integrating Evolution with Gmail with Thunderbird across 3 platforms, transparently).
Even if it were easy to set up clients, I simply do not want a client. I use several computers, and I would have to configure each client to my liking: plug-ins, rules, highlighting, address book, etc.
I just want web-based E-mail, but I also want it off-line. The GMail/Gears combo gives me that. I'm probably not alone.