new features

GMAIL wishes:

Gmail needs templates, this is so obvious. We all send the
same stuff
all the time, so I am reduced to using old mails with a
"forms" or
"templates" label, then I have to copy, paste,
etc. What a bore.
Templates, my good man. That's where the future is. Enable
automation
and you will get the whole world on board.

When I send an email, I would like to have the option to put
a label
on an outgoing mail or conversation, as it stands I use
labels to
organize my work, for example when I send out a query to
someone, I
set it to a "pending" status, which i can then
check to see if
everybody has answered.  I sometimes have to go to
"sent" mail to do
that, which is a pain.

New Google services - wish:

Why not online quotes and invoicing, expense accounts.

VERY EASY to develop.

You already have your word and excel engines. Don't do
accounting as
such , you will get into all kinds of national specifics and
suchlike
bull. But invoicing and quotes are basically the same
everywhere...
enter tables for articles, clients, quotes, invoices. As to
sales tax,
no big deal, just provide at table for currency,  and a
table for
several rates of sales tax, it will take two seconds to set
it up for
each country. VAT, TVA, etc. Throw in a popup exchange rate
thing in a
corner and a popup calculator.

Click contacts to generate a quote and send it as a pdf,
and
automatically save a copy, flag it for followup.
Help us poor slobs get organized and help us delegate.
Automatically
download this junk to cell phone. Help the poor on the
road.

SAVE THE DATA... people will stay for life because you are
their
archive. Plus this kind of data is much smaller than the
crap you are
already saving for people in Gmail.

Buy an accounting outfit and provide all inclusive service.
You enter
the data, you run the cash side of your business, we help
you save
money by getting your P&L out. SMBs.


G CALENDAR wishes:

Gmail calendar & contacts needs easy sync DIRECT to
mobile phones.
This will be a killer app, don't know why Google hasn't
realized
that.

This lack of functionality is a pain in all of our behinds,
there are
already paying solutions out there, just buy someone out and
do it
fast. Hint : DO NOT force people to sync their phones by
syncing first
with Outlook. Duh. Are you helping your competition or what.
Who wants
Outlook? Only a syncing utility for me.

Gmail calendar must support TWO WAY calandar sync to outlook
and
thunderbird. I like Google calendar, especially the sharing
features,
but can't use it because of the two above features are
lacking.

The Word and Excel clones are a nice idea. Bit rudimentary,
but heck.
I use them, not to work on a daily basis, but to share out
the latest
version of shared docments with various people in the
company...
latest access maps, latest company doc, latest quote
templates, etc.
This used to be a paying service. Why not make a data
repository? I
know this exists, but the files get zapped after a week. You
could
oblige the user to enter an "end" date for the
shared data file, up to
18 months later. At the time the end date approaches, you
can fire off
an email to the user to remind him to log on to the file, or
update
it, to keep it alive. You can show him/her ads at that time.
Huh.


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> To be perfectly honest, those are features only
business people want/need. I
> seriously doubt Google is going to put the effort into
developing something
> like that.

You might be right, but I think they would be wrong.

A lot of us do quotes in the process of making our living. 
By a lot,
I mean hundreds of millions of people around the world.

"Only business people" ? Business people means
tons of people ...
anybody that isn't a teacher or student or priest or
unemployed or a
non-commercial salaried employees or unemployed.

Anybody freelance (Nurses, physical therapists, doctors),
garbage
collectors, plumbers, IT freelancers, Writers, Trainers, all
send
invoices. Heck, even teachers might send invoices if they
moonlight
giving private lessons or something. Non profit associations
send out
invoices. And especially small businesses with sales people
that
travel would love this, especially if there is a mobile
phone format
for entering invoices. Not every small company can afford to
set up
VPN facilities to enable online centralized invoicing.

Google is definitely interested in business people: they are
the ones
who pay for ads. Proof is that they are starting to offer
company
accounts for centralizing pop email accounts, making
websites, etc.
But it is true they seem to be targeting smaller companies.
Big
companies would NOT use Google to host anything, it would be
against
every quality and business continuity precept in the book.
But SMBs
are an ideal target for them.

As I say, a basic quote/invoicing facility would be much
easier to
develop than the website management facility they aready
provide
(which does not, by the way, provide a huge amount of
flexibility--
yet). I think they could win a large number of business
people over if
they provide this package, for free, before anyone else
does.


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You contradict yourself.  You mention that Google wants
businesses
cause they pay for the ads, then you mention giving
something away for
free.

AFAIK they aren't giving things away for free to businesses.
 They
give it away for free to individual users so they can get
those paid
for ads on the screen for us to see, so the businesses will
pay them.

And if you're talking about giving it away for free, then
taking it
back to be a paid service... I doubt Google would do that. 
I haven't
seen an example of them doing it yet, and it's poor business
practice.
 It upsets people immensely, and some view it as evil (and
Google's
motto is "Do no evil.")

I have to agree with Ryan.  It would be primarily for
business, and
the ratio of people using GMail for business to the people
using for
personal use, is probably pretty low.  Especially when you
consider
that if they're using it for business, they've probably also
got an
account for personal, which instantly puts the use at less
than 50%.

On 3/3/07, feep <jere.hamiltongmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> > To be perfectly honest, those are features only
business people want/need. I
> > seriously doubt Google is going to put the effort
into developing something
> > like that.
>
> You might be right, but I think they would be wrong.
>
> A lot of us do quotes in the process of making our
living.  By a lot,
> I mean hundreds of millions of people around the
world.
>
> "Only business people" ? Business people
means tons of people ...
> anybody that isn't a teacher or student or priest or
unemployed or a
> non-commercial salaried employees or unemployed.
>
> Anybody freelance (Nurses, physical therapists,
doctors), garbage
> collectors, plumbers, IT freelancers, Writers,
Trainers, all send
> invoices. Heck, even teachers might send invoices if
they moonlight
> giving private lessons or something. Non profit
associations send out
> invoices. And especially small businesses with sales
people that
> travel would love this, especially if there is a mobile
phone format
> for entering invoices. Not every small company can
afford to set up
> VPN facilities to enable online centralized invoicing.
>
> Google is definitely interested in business people:
they are the ones
> who pay for ads. Proof is that they are starting to
offer company
> accounts for centralizing pop email accounts, making
websites, etc.
> But it is true they seem to be targeting smaller
companies. Big
> companies would NOT use Google to host anything, it
would be against
> every quality and business continuity precept in the
book. But SMBs
> are an ideal target for them.
>
> As I say, a basic quote/invoicing facility would be
much easier to
> develop than the website management facility they
aready provide
> (which does not, by the way, provide a huge amount of
flexibility--
> yet). I think they could win a large number of business
people over if
> they provide this package, for free, before anyone else
does.
>
>
> >
>

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Hmmm. Businesses are usually the ones who place the ads, you
are
right, but people working in businesses also click on ads.
Do private
consumers buy more online than businesses? I don't know what
the
statistics are.

Be that as it may, I don't see where the contradiction is.
Both B2C
and B2B are good markets.

For the moment at least, Google is offering grouped company
email
facilities to businesses, apparently with shared calendars.
So they
are interested in attracting businesses, otherwise they
wouldn't be
providing this service.

Many people that travel use Google for business, I'm one of
them. I
use a "reply to" with my company email. I can also
pick up pop mail
from other accounts on my google account. I can also
download my
Google mail to my laptop if I want to work offline. I can
reply to
personal email on the same account using a different reply
address.

It is very convenient. I am the typical type of small
business client
that would use an quote/invoicing feature, totally in
parallel with
the emails I handle all day long...

While I'm invoicing, I'll see the ads, just like while I'm
emailing.

Those advertisers would love to target small businesses.
bill
collectors, letterhead manufacturers, web hosting &
design services,
IT providers, whatever.

Plus, one obvious thing is that anybody sending out an
invoice is
likely to have at least some money coming in to spend on
those
clickable ads. The same may not be said about generic
webmail users.

Maybe somebody should start a free online quote/invoicing
service if
Google doesn't want to.

On 3 mar, 14:54, "Zack (Doc)" <z...tnan.net> wrote:
> You contradict yourself.  You mention that Google wants
businesses
> cause they pay for the ads, then you mention giving
something away for
> free.
>
> AFAIK they aren't giving things away for free to
businesses.  They
> give it away for free to individual users so they can
get those paid
> for ads on the screen for us to see, so the businesses
will pay them.
>
> And if you're talking about giving it away for free,
then taking it
> back to be a paid service... I doubt Google would do
that.  I haven't
> seen an example of them doing it yet, and it's poor
business practice.
>  It upsets people immensely, and some view it as evil
(and Google's
> motto is "Do no evil.")
>
> I have to agree with Ryan.  It would be primarily for
business, and
> the ratio of people using GMail for business to the
people using for
> personal use, is probably pretty low.  Especially when
you consider
> that if they're using it for business, they've probably
also got an
> account for personal, which instantly puts the use at
less than 50%.
>
> On 3/3/07, feep <jere.hamil...gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > > To be perfectly honest, those are features
only business people want/need. I
> > > seriously doubt Google is going to put the
effort into developing something
> > > like that.
>
> > You might be right, but I think they would be
wrong.
>
> > A lot of us do quotes in the process of making our
living.  By a lot,
> > I mean hundreds of millions of people around the
world.
>
> > "Only business people" ? Business people
means tons of people ...
> > anybody that isn't a teacher or student or priest
or unemployed or a
> > non-commercial salaried employees or unemployed.
>
> > Anybody freelance (Nurses, physical therapists,
doctors), garbage
> > collectors, plumbers, IT freelancers, Writers,
Trainers, all send
> > invoices. Heck, even teachers might send invoices
if they moonlight
> > giving private lessons or something. Non profit
associations send out
> > invoices. And especially small businesses with
sales people that
> > travel would love this, especially if there is a
mobile phone format
> > for entering invoices. Not every small company can
afford to set up
> > VPN facilities to enable online centralized
invoicing.
>
> > Google is definitely interested in business
people: they are the ones
> > who pay for ads. Proof is that they are starting
to offer company
> > accounts for centralizing pop email accounts,
making websites, etc.
> > But it is true they seem to be targeting smaller
companies. Big
> > companies would NOT use Google to host anything,
it would be against
> > every quality and business continuity precept in
the book. But SMBs
> > are an ideal target for them.
>
> > As I say, a basic quote/invoicing facility would
be much easier to
> > develop than the website management facility they
aready provide
> > (which does not, by the way, provide a huge amount
of flexibility--
> > yet). I think they could win a large number of
business people over if
> > they provide this package, for free, before anyone
else does.


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