Uneasy Rhetoric

It looks like Yahoo is getting ready to roll out the beta test of a new web-based email system (San Jose Mercury News, June 28, 2005), based on Oddpost, which they aquired a year ago.

The revamped e-mail — Yahoo calls it the “most significant overhaul” ever of Yahoo Mail — is a stark departure from traditional Web-based e-mail services. Users can easily scroll through all the messages in their inboxes, drag and drop messages to folders, delete messages with a single keystroke and use many of the standard keyboard shortcuts common to desktop e-mail programs.

I can’t wait. I was a user of Oddpost for several years and absolutely loved it. I almost completely stopped using their interface because it was Internet Explorer only and I’d graduated to Firefox. But I kept my account and have been anticipating the new version, assuming it will run on Firefox.

And it will! Even better, “Oddpost account-holders and heavy Yahoo Mail users will be among the first to try the new technology.” I may qualify on both counts, since I’ve been using Yahoo to check my Oddpost mail. I hope so. I’d love to have the chance to test this new system.