Sadly there were no tales of bad behavior at the home of WSJ.com correspondent Lee Gomes, who invited the heads of email teams from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to dinner with the admonishment that bad behavior would not be tolerated.
And that’s a shame, because the otherwise fine article from Gomes could have used a little enlivening. Or at least a copy of the menu.
Google’s Paul Buchheit, Microsoft’s Kevin Doerr, and Yahoo’s Ethan Diamond took part in the dinner, Gomes wrote. He noted the competitors were “gracious and complimentary” to each other.
While Gmail occupied much of the dinner conversation (“You guys woke us up,” Doerr told Buchheit), Diamond and Doerr had moments to shine on their email programs.
The new Yahoo Mail shows the entire inbox in a single screen, an accomplishment that both competitors acknowledged was a good one. Microsoft’s new emailer has “desktop-like” functionality, including spell checking while typing a la Word.
All three did share a similar gripe, that of getting complaints from users wanting support for “Web browsers with tiny market shares.” It would have been interesting to hear where the complaints were coming from, but alas, this was a polite article.
They may get together again in a year to discuss the year that was in email. Gomes observed that “maybe the three products will be out of beta by then. And maybe a glove or two will come off.”
Now that would be a fun article to read. Imagine the thrilling tale that could be spun, where after several carafes of wine have been put away, Doerr and Buchheit agree to settle scores between their companies as gentlemen, with dinner rolls and sherbet at 10 paces, and Gomes and Diamond serving as reluctant seconds in the duel.
—
Email the author here.
Add to document.write(“Del.icio.us”) | Yahoo My Web
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
