#2: Google does have Gmail tasks, with keyboard shortcuts for using them. But because there isn't yet a tasks API it's hard to sync with other things.
Some thoughts:
1. Whatever the new email is needs to look and feel like email at the beginning, though it can morph into something else over time. It also needs to be completely keyboard driven and entirely API controllable on the client and mail server side. GMail's API is only so-so and a moving target.
2. It should be initially marketed at power users who can define sophisticated functions on emails or groups of emails. Those with 100s of emails a day feel the most pain right now.
3. On Stackoverflow, before you can submit a new question, it is intercepted and searched against the database to determine whether it has already been answered. Similarly, you could have something that directly links email to search of a corporate database. Before you hit send, it suggests alternate things you could look at: Google Docs, github, the general web. This search would be a combination of statistical NLP and deterministic rules set up by the system administrator, and would intercept many informational or TODO type queries.
4. You might do something much more interesting with auto-responders. E.g. someone asking for a meeting could be redirected to your calendar to self-serve schedule if they are on your "ok to meet" whitelist.
5. More interestingly, you might also allow API-hooks for trusted senders and receivers. For trusted senders within your own corporate network, you might allow them to put some kind of button or hook in the email to permit more structured responses than free text. For example, they could discharge the TODO directly without having to click a link and leave email. Or in the case of the CEO below, it would be "authorize payment". You might actually be able to make this work today within GMail with suitable iframing.
6. A properly configured mutt or Emacs gnus has many interesting features that could be ported to the browser.
> 4. You might do something much more interesting with auto-responders. E.g. someone asking for a meeting could be redirected to your calendar to self-serve schedule if they are on your "ok to meet" whitelist.
Yes. We already have SIRI, why doesn't this already exist...? It must exist somewhere and we're not aware of it, no?
Comments
#2: Google does have Gmail tasks, with keyboard shortcuts for using them. But because there isn't yet a tasks API it's hard to sync with other things.
Some thoughts:
1. Whatever the new email is needs to look and feel like email at the beginning, though it can morph into something else over time. It also needs to be completely keyboard driven and entirely API controllable on the client and mail server side. GMail's API is only so-so and a moving target.
2. It should be initially marketed at power users who can define sophisticated functions on emails or groups of emails. Those with 100s of emails a day feel the most pain right now.
3. On Stackoverflow, before you can submit a new question, it is intercepted and searched against the database to determine whether it has already been answered. Similarly, you could have something that directly links email to search of a corporate database. Before you hit send, it suggests alternate things you could look at: Google Docs, github, the general web. This search would be a combination of statistical NLP and deterministic rules set up by the system administrator, and would intercept many informational or TODO type queries.
4. You might do something much more interesting with auto-responders. E.g. someone asking for a meeting could be redirected to your calendar to self-serve schedule if they are on your "ok to meet" whitelist.
5. More interestingly, you might also allow API-hooks for trusted senders and receivers. For trusted senders within your own corporate network, you might allow them to put some kind of button or hook in the email to permit more structured responses than free text. For example, they could discharge the TODO directly without having to click a link and leave email. Or in the case of the CEO below, it would be "authorize payment". You might actually be able to make this work today within GMail with suitable iframing.
6. A properly configured mutt or Emacs gnus has many interesting features that could be ported to the browser.
> 4. You might do something much more interesting with auto-responders. E.g. someone asking for a meeting could be redirected to your calendar to self-serve schedule if they are on your "ok to meet" whitelist.
Yes. We already have SIRI, why doesn't this already exist...? It must exist somewhere and we're not aware of it, no?