The Android GMail client is a perfect example of what a client looks like in this world. It talks to the (secret / private) GMail API, it does offline mail reading, and queues actions so you can archive / filter / whatever mails while offline and it’ll push changes later. You can read and write mail. It doesn’t try to do anything clever, because anything clever done on one client isn’t reproduced on any other client. And if I don’t have a client on my current computer for GMail, I can use a web browser, and still get all the features of the server. I use the web gmail interface for everything anyway, because it’s better than any GUI client I’ve got.
I dont know - this guy makes for pretty convincing arguments on why email should be done right on the server rather than the client. Which effectively means a new protocol.
If not designed very carefully, though, it can reduce the user's ability to view things as they like them. With the current status quo of mailservers not handling message threading and such, I can choose a client that handles it how I want. If the server is doing it, it had better either do it how I want it, or provide some way to customize what it's doing.
(For example, I don't like gmail's flat "conversation" view; I much prefer a "threaded conversation" view, like classic Usenet readers, or HN discussions.)
reMAP claims to treat conversations as first class objects. Given suitable APIs on top, I think you could build different views on different email clients.
I think what is meant by a new protocol and server innovation is a change in the data model. I do not believe they are going to dictate views.
The Android GMail client is a perfect example of what a client looks like in this world. It talks to the (secret / private) GMail API, it does offline mail reading, and queues actions so you can archive / filter / whatever mails while offline and it’ll push changes later. You can read and write mail. It doesn’t try to do anything clever, because anything clever done on one client isn’t reproduced on any other client. And if I don’t have a client on my current computer for GMail, I can use a web browser, and still get all the features of the server. I use the web gmail interface for everything anyway, because it’s better than any GUI client I’ve got.
I dont know - this guy makes for pretty convincing arguments on why email should be done right on the server rather than the client. Which effectively means a new protocol.