Gmail users have every right to be frustrated at this time. In the past few weeks, Gmail has struggled with Windows and suffered a serious flaw in the spam filter that sent potentially malicious emails directly to users’ inboxes. But now Google has announced a massive overhaul of the service that should convince potential defectors to stick around.
Google has announced radical changes to Gmail
In an official blog post, Google has announced the most radical redesign of Gmail in its 16-year history. In a transformative move, Google has integrated messaging, video chat, shared file access, virtual meeting rooms, real-time collaboration, and more directly into Gmail, making it an all-in-one productivity suite. Gmail now sets itself apart from any rival email service.
“One thing we have heard over and over from our users is how switching between applications interrupts their flow and focus,” said Google Vice President Javier Soltero. “So in this new integrated experience, we’ve thought about how we can help you work more smoothly.”
In practice, what this means is that Gmail will now integrate Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs / Sheets / Slides and Tasks, as well as Rooms, which will become a complete competitor to Slack / Teams. Users will be able to share and collaborate on documents in real time while having a live video chat, all without leaving their email. It is potentially revolutionary and should help everyone from big companies to amateur soccer teams.
Google also confirmed that these changes will be implemented soon in Android and iOS apps, but there is a big caveat. Outside the door, this massive redesign will only be available to G Suite users (sign in to access here). That being said, in this era of home work, I’d be surprised if it’s not available to everyone in no time.
Following these changes, Google now describes Gmail as an “integrated workspace.” It’s a fundamental change to the world’s most widely used email service, and anyone thinking about jumping off the boat can now stay.
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