I used to doubt that the browser was becoming the new desktop. I mainly used the GMail web interface for its portability, not its usability. That is, I liked being able to access my email from anywhere, and I didn't really notice a difference in ease of use between desktop clients and webmail. If anything, back then the webmail interfaces were a definite step down. Web apps were clearly still far from replacing desktop apps. But recently I decided to try a little experiment. The results have since overturned my skepticism.
I tried switching to Thunderbird a few weeks ago. Firefox was being its usual pig-slow self, and I had a lot of things going on, so I could no longer afford to wait 3 minutes to switch between tabs (I'm still on a PPC Mac). So I did it. I used a desktop email client again for the first time in about a year.
But now, after a few weeks of using only Thunderbird, I'm back on the browser. And not because my email was being scattered about on different machines. I switched back purely for usability reasons:
- Search was more accurate and faster in the GMail web interface.
- It seemed easier (believe it or not) to lose a draft in Thunderbird than in the GMail web interface with it's auto-save feature.
- Switching between rich text and plain text in the desktop client was next to impossible compared to the simplicity of the web client.
- Without the conversation grouping feature of the GMail web interface, I felt a lack of context. I had become so used to this Gmail feature that it was disorienting to read email without it.
- I had to sacrifice gigs of hard disk space after POP'ing my GMail inbox down into Thunderbird.
In fairness to Thunderbird, it is a great email client. If I had to use a desktop client, it's the one I'd use.
At this point, I should probably list some of my gripes about the GMail UI, but, oddly enough, I don't have any. I only have gripes about the GMail deilvery platform (aka, the web browser).
What I really want in my email client is stability. A stable email client should be immune from whatever crap may be running in other tabs in my web browser. A stable client should not give me the Mac beachball when I want to switch quickly between inboxes (browser tabs, in this case). So what I really want is a dedicated client program. A fast browser that contains only my GMail accounts. Something I can "Apple-TAB" directly into.
I googled for something like this today and found this simple WebKit-based browser. It is almost exactly what I'm looking for. The only thing I'd want to change is the ability to have multiple GMail accounts open in separate tabs. But the simplicity of a browser that is dedicated to email is surprisingly refreshing. In fact, I was so compelled by this concept, I even broke out my Cocoa/Objective-C book this afternoon and started playing with the source! (And I got absolutely nothing done, but I had fun re-learning Xcode.)
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