my main beef with Gmail is that because I get so many emails, a lot of which I quickly scan and delete, I use the “delete” key a lot. And I can’t do that in Gmail. Yeah, I can use #, but it’s nowhere near as convenient as the delete key, which I have mapped to a thumb button on my mouse

I also forget to look at email when it’s browser-based, although now I look at FB so much that may not be so much of an issue, maybe I’d remember.

* You can change the selection order after delete here:
http://support.postbox-inc.com/entries/70327

* To always show HTML images, go to Preferences / Privacy and uncheck “Block loading of remote images”

* Just log a bug on our support portal if you get stuck on anything.

I found your comment about focus when deleting emails interesting, as my Outlook (work, Exchange) has always worked the opposite way to what you’re used to, and it’s never bothered me at all.

Cheers,
Adam

Of course now GMail has been out for ages and is used by a LOT of people. There are certain expectations in the online community that just weren’t there before and thus Google needs to change it’s launch technique (although clearly they’re not going to).

Back in the day, people sold gmail invites on eBay. There was a real buzz about the service, it was new and so was the invited launch technique. Now, people expect to be able to get in on the new craze early and don’t tolerate the invite only model (esp. when said invites don’t work because Google closes the invitation period before you can redeem them).

’twill be interesting to see if this service gets off the ground and goes anywhere. There is a definite need for a credible FB alternative, just remains to be seen if this is it.

Thought I’d start off with e disclaimer.

Having said that though, I agree with your main point; let people in!

I was lucky enough to get in pretty much from the get go, I have since been able to get quite a few people in via a ‘loop hole’ in the invitation method (a loop hole I am sure Google werfe well aware of); however, the mechanism is vague, the success rate is varied, and the process is starting to scare people off.

I don’t know if Google were simply niave to how many people would be interested in the new product, or just massively underestimated the resources needed to manage to initial flood.

Overall though, I think Google+ is a positive step in the the social networking world. Handing privacy and moderation back to the user is a good start. Allowing simple things like being able to moderate comments to our own posts, and editing of posts is something that should be a given with social networking.

The ‘Hangout’ concept is very attractive and may well be the feature that wins G+ some points. The potential to group video chat up to ten people, at no cost, is a feature no one has offered before. I can see this being utilised socially (family and friends spread far and wide) as well as professionally (meetings, training sessions etc). As you point out though, it’s hard to test when there aren’t the users to test it with.

It’s going to be an uphill push for Google to convince people to migrate from Facebook. Despite Facebook’s widely knows security flaws, massive advertising, constant hacking, and general user ‘unfriendliness’, it is familiar and it takes a pretty attractive offer to capture attention and swing the vote.

I hope G+ is a success. My initial views are positive, and I would like to see it grow. The mobile support (at least for Android) is impressive, and the features attractive. Fingers crossed that Google can take advantage of the momentum, let people in, and get this thing off the ground.

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PS That would be Google with an uppercase G Mr Cullen!