Google’s new Gmail aims to hit Microsoft where it hurts
Obtenir le lien
Facebook
X
Pinterest
E-mail
Autres applications
.
Google unveiled a new Gmail design
this week, overhauling its free email service with new features and a
fresh look. Beyond the new design, smart replies, and email snooze
features that regular Gmail users will enjoy, Google is adding in some
smart business-focused features designed to improve productivity,
security, and manage the sharing of emails. These are the types of
features you’d usually find in rival software like Microsoft’s Outlook
app that a lot of big businesses use for workplace emails. Microsoft dominates workplace productivity software, and Google has been a distant second with its G Suite offering for years. Google obviously wants that to change.
There’s a new confidential mode for setting expiration
dates on emails, for example, and you can even block recipients from
forwarding, copying, downloading, or printing particular messages. It’s
the same information rights management (IRM) that Microsoft originally
introduced in Outlook back in 2007.
Google is also adding improved email phishing detection,
two-factor authentication to protect emails, and even the ability to use
a more robust offline mode so travelling business users can simply use
their regular Gmail tab in a browser without having to worry about
connectivity. The biggest visual changes are also aimed at improving
productivity for business users in Gmail. There’s a new sidebar which
means you can look at calendar appointments side-by-side with emails,
and even new quick hover buttons to delete or archive messages without
needing to open them.
New Gmail with side-by-side calendar
I’ve been using the new Gmail and a lot of these new
features remind me of Outlook, which is only a good thing. Outlook has
always kept mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks within a single app, and
cleverly surfaced these when you’re trying to create a calendar
appointment, or find someone’s number in a corporate directory. It’s one
of the reasons I still use Outlook for iOS, because it keeps your
calendar information, contacts, and email all within a single place
instead of having to jump in and out of apps.
Google’s
new sidebar in Gmail feels like a first big step towards better
integration of mail, calendar, tasks, and contacts within Gmail.
Consumers will enjoy it, and business users will find it really useful
for scheduling meetings or managing tasks. Likewise, the security
features will be used primarily by businesses to make emails
self-destruct, or to avoid simple human errors where emails go to the
wrong person.
All of these features are designed to get more businesses to seriously consider G Suite. Google has 4 million businesses paying
for G Suite right now, compared to 120 million Office 365 commercial
users. That’s double what Google had a few years ago, but Microsoft is
still managing to dominate with Office 365. Microsoft even has 29.2
million consumers paying for Office 365, and it generates more revenue
from Office 365 commercial subscriptions than regular standalone copies
of Office. Google can clearly see Microsoft is outpacing its own growth in this area, and this latest Gmail update is an early response.
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft is aiming to get two-thirds of its Office
business customers over to the cloud (from standalone Exchange and
Outlook) over the next 15 months so Google has a major battle ahead for
big business. It’s not going to be quick or easy, but Google does have
some important advantages over Microsoft. 1.4 billion people are using
Gmail, compared to 400 million on Microsoft’s Outlook.com service.
Google’s G Suite also dominates in education in the US, alongside
Chromebooks, and it has made some impressive inroads in small
businesses. Google also has the obvious advantage of its Android
platform without Microsoft’s hefty legacy support issues, and of being
web-first with its products. All of these advantages should make it
easier for Google to entice the next generation of workers and
businesses over to G Suite.
Google might never fully catch Microsoft in enterprise
and big business, but that doesn’t really matter. This latest battle is
good news for all users of Office 365 or G Suite. It’s the competition
that has forced Microsoft to make some changes to Office 365 and
Outlook.com to improve its own software and services. Likewise, Google
is now improving its own products for businesses. Everyone wins when
there’s solid competition, and the war between G Suite and Office 365 is
definitely getting a whole lot more interesting.
Disney Research, MIT Media Lab, and Carnegie Mellon University have unveiled a new conceptual haptic “force jacket” that simulates physical experiences to people wearing the device. The force jacket is lined with airbags controlled by a computer that inflates and deflates the bags. Disney envisions the jacket will be used with VR headsets for more immersive experiences, given its ability to simulate hugs, being hit or punched, and peculiarly, the sensation of a snake slithering across your body. The jacket is made up of airbags with sensors attached that direct force and vibrations to specific locations on your body. The software-controlled jacket weighs about five pounds and has a valve system that inflates and deflates 26 air compartments. It has adjustable sleeves, and the vest is made of a repurposed life vest with the inside foam replaced with the air bags. The air compartments are located on the jacket’s fr...
After an unexpected delay, Microsoft has at last begun rolling out the new Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803) half a year after the last big Windows 10 update, the Fall Creators Update (version 1709), in October 2017. The April 2018 Update, which was code-named Redstone 4, offers a slew of new features, notably one called Timeline that lets you quickly resume earlier activities, and the Diagnostic Data Viewer, which Microsoft says will make it easier for you to know and control what data Microsoft gathers about you. Beyond that are tweaks to Cortana, Microsoft Edge and plenty more. Preston Gralla / IDG The new Windows 10 April 2018 Update looks much like the previous version of Windows 10. (Click image to enlarge it.) How useful are the new features, and will the tweaks make a difference in your life? To find out, I’ve put this newest Windows 10 iteration through its paces for a month, in addition to tracking its new features for the last six months. Here’s an...
Sony’s new range of BRAVIA LCD TV for 2011 The new 2011 BRAVIA LCD lineup from Sony is here. The company promises increased Internet functionality and content, enhanced 2D and 3D viewing, Skype capability and smart connectivity features. Sony’s 2011 BRAVIA LCD HDTV line include 27 new models ranging in screen size from 22 inches to 65 inches – 16 new 3D capable models and 22 Internet connected models. Most of the new models now gets Internet capabilities, also new channels and services was added, of course you can browse your favorite videos on YouTube and DailyMotion or catch up on TV programmes you missed with BBC iPlayer, as well to check how your friend is doing on Facebook and Twitter. Sony even will let you browse your favorite websites using an Opera web browser on the TV screen, plus to watch the latest movies and to listening to music with Sony’s Video On Demand and Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity and from Netflix, Pandora,...
Commentaires
Enregistrer un commentaire