Only seven months after a major redesign that many considered a huge flop, Yahoo has unveiled major changes to its Ymail service, and it has its users up in arms again. The new features like conversation threads, themed background images and a massive terabyte of storage are clearly following in Gmail’s footsteps, changes that weren’t unexpected, given that Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Meyer was one of the core designers of Gmail when she was at Google.
What this means for you:
Yahoo Mail is the second largest webmail service in the world, and very close on the heels of Gmail. Feature changes like the ones above are attempting to build on Google’s successes, but as many customers have noted in the large volume of complaints, the main reason they use Yahoo Mail is because it is not Gmail. The biggest change seems to be the removal of the Mail Tabs feature, something that nearly 40K users have voted to have Yahoo reinstate. Users are also complaining about numerous bugs that appear to have never been quashed from the last time Yahoo messed with its email service. Seemingly heedless to the outpouring of complaints, Yahoo has issued press statements reiterating the need for the company to progress the development of its services into a “…more modern and personalized Yahoo!” Perhaps that development means some loyal fans will be left behind.
