Microsoft Improves Gmail Experience For Windows 10 Insiders, But There Are Privacy Concerns (betanews.com)

Reader BrianFagioli writes: Today, Microsoft announced a new Gmail experience for Windows 10. While only available for Windows Insiders as of today, it uses the same concept as the Outlook mobile app, but for the Mail and Calendar apps. Microsoft will provide you with an arguably improved experience as long as you are OK with storing all of your Gmail messages in Microsoft's cloud. What types of features will the new experience offer? Things such as tracking packages, getting updated on your favorite sports teams, and a focused inbox. "To power these new features, we'll ask your permission to sync a copy of your email, calendar and contacts to the Microsoft Cloud. This will allow new features to light up, and changes to update back and forth with Gmail -- such as creation, edit or deletion of emails, calendar events and contacts. But your experience in Gmail.com or apps from Google will not change in any way."

Comments

Microsoft Has An Odd Obsession With The Cloud...

[dryriver]

Yes, I get it. Satya Nadella is from Microsoft's Cloud Division so all things MS/Windows 10 have to go "cloud" now and of course all your dataz haz to bee in ze Maikrozoft Klaud az zoon az pozzible. But here's my question: If Windows 10 as an OS cannot be trusted with very basic Privacy - phoning home all the time and such - why on earth would I put all my Gmails in the Microsoft Cloud? If I cannot trust your OS sitting on my own harddrive, why would I trust your Cloud sitting on your servers somewhere? Can you trust Google more than Microsoft? I don't know the answer to that. All I know is - if Windows 10 isn't private, your Cloud service probably isn't very private either. My 2 Cents.

How can this be an improvement?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Letting one corporate giant rifle through your personal email is bad enough. Letting two of them? Why? "I have a hole in my head. Let me improve it by drilling another hole in the head"!!!! How can that be an improvement?

Re:Microsoft Has An Odd Obsession With The Cloud..

[dryriver]

And I suspect that Windows as an OS is dying slowly, to be replaced by Android/iOS powered computing devices in the next 5 years. So Microsoft desperately needs a new "Windows" like platform - this time it is the Microsoft Cloud. They are trying desperately to shift all your shit into the Cloud, so you become DEPENDENT on using the Cloud. Once Microsoft has you in the Cloud, they will push SAAS - Software As A Service - on you hard. There won't be any significant "software" sitting on your harddrive anymore. Just little front-end "Apps" - essentially just GUIs - that connect to a cloud server back end. Of course you will have to "rent" those apps just like you have to with Adobe/Autodesk software. This means that you will have to provide things like credit card data to Microsoft, which of course Microsoft will datamine and sell to Big Data companies for a lot of money. Its "1984", just that this time, 1984 happens "in the Cloud".