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Ask HN: Why is GMail the best email client?

6 points by ericn ↗ HN
It has its flaws, but I find myself again and again returning to GMail's web client after trying out desktop clients.

I have tried: * Thunderbird * Claws * Mutt * Pine * Others that I can't remember.

The question I have is: why, given the limitations of the browser, is GMail still better?

11 comments

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mooism2
Surely the question should be: why aren't any of these desktop clients good enough for you to stick with? What are their flaws that outweigh those of Gmail?
ericn
My intention was more "why haven't desktop apps copied the best parts of GMail and made it irrelevant?" But here are the features I'd like to see in a desktop client:

Conversation view (one line per conversation in folder view, all emails in conversation shown when viewing the conversation, and the emails are sorted by most recent message, etc) Fast (fast search, fast email viewing, no pauses while waiting for emails to download, etc) Simple interface (single screen which changes views)

The thing I'd like most that gmail doesn't have (even with offline gmail) is to have my mail stored locally and be able to use it while I'm not connected.

pkamb
The emphasis on Archiving.
badkins
honestly, I hate gmail. I can't exactly put my finger on why though. I'm definitely not a fan of the threaded view.
ericn
I love GMail's threaded view.
runjake
- No folders, archiving.

- Labels

- Killer search

- Fast interface

ericn
I would add "conversation view" to the list. It's much better than threaded view, even though it's only slightly different.

I have lost emails in other clients due to the fact that I was viewing them in threaded view and the conversation was really old. They just didn't show up in the first couple of pages of emails and I missed them.

But the question wasn't meant to be about which features make GMail better. It was supposed to ask why a desktop app hasn't copied the features.

selectnull
Gmail is the first email client that allowed me to focus on communication and not worry about how to catalog stuff, in order to find it later.

The concept of archive, fast search and threading are something I wouldn't want to be without anymore.

ericn
Yes, it is amazing how it changed the way I viewed email. But why hasn't a copycat mail client come about, with all of the advantages of running native, come about to surpass it?
fexl
Thunderbird has excellent support for encryption with its "Enigmail" plugin. It's the most secure and seamless encryption I can imagine. For example, it has options like "always encrypt when replying to an encrypted message", and "always verify before sending".

I suppose with Gmail I could use GPG via copy and paste, or perhaps the now abandoned "FireGPG" plugin for Firefox. Anyone else here use encryption?