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November 9, 2006
The Further IM-ification of Email
Google continues to blur the differences between email and IM with a new feature released tonight:Embarassment-reducing new message notifications
Ever replied to a message only to find out that someone sent a better, smarter reply right before you? Now, if someone sends a reply while you're in the middle of reading a conversation (or replying to it), you'll get a notification that a new message has arrived. Click "update conversation" to see what you’ve missed.
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Actually, I think ICQ should really get the credit here. In the late 90's, their messaging system - which was similar in function to AOL's IM, as far as I could tell - could also allow you to send messages to someone who was not logged on at the time. They would receive the message the next time they logged on. Which is, essentially, email.
Of course, there could have been some other program out before ICQ that could boast that functionality as well; as a casual user, I just remember ICQ doing it first.
Very smart. That happens to me all the time.