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Comment by thezilch | Hacker News Reader

A free ride, running one of the largest and best-of-breed, free software-infrastructures.

The gmail I have now is a shadow of what it was when I was invited in more than a decade ago. I so rarely login (it's a backup dumping ground now) that I can't find what I want, it's non-intuitive, things aren't where they used to be and I can't stand it. I might just be getting old though...

> I can't find what I want, it's non-intuitive, things aren't where they used to be and I can't stand it. I might just be getting old though...

Definitely getting old. You sound exactly like every old person (3 of them) who i've moved from Outlook to Gmail.

If you joined Gmail when it was new and on an invite-only basis, you'd know just how much worse things has gotten.

Back then Gmail was better than everything else. Now it's an abomination which makes me want to jump ship.

I've come to Gmail with an invite too, and I fully agree with you. But I don't know yet where I would jump to. I would prefer it to be a European company.

Are you kidding? Maybe it's grown beautiful in your memory since you last saw it. 2004 gmail is fugly.

FYI, everyone was upset when it changed. That's normal human behaviour. Nobody likes change. But since then, I've learnt where the "hidden" features are, and am lovin' it.

BTW, the new Hotmail (Outlook.com) is pretty awesome too. Even better than gmail IMO.

You're not wrong. Google has repeatedly made Gmail worse, and I'll probably dump it when the "compose box" is forced on me.

So ... you're complaining that a service you don't really use has changed and your old understanding of it won't help you to find your way now?

I get frustrated when I go back to my hometown and am confronted with new streets and missing landmarks, but it certainly isn't their fault.

The changes are why I left, mainly the realisation that the adverts matched things I was typing (duh..), but also the hard sell attempts to get more data - phone number, location, Google+. Interface changes compounded my dislike. Edit for typo.

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