Email Renaissance

Just how much has email evolved over the years? Or has it? Aside of some cosmetic brush up here, a touch up there, in terms of utility and features, not much really. Oh yes, some like hotmail and Yahoo! have recast its user interface and improved free storage from 10mb to 2 GB (more under pressure from Gmail that offered close to 4 GB to its users, free).

Four new startups, all of which came out of secrecy this year, point toward a bright new future for email. Or do they? These oddly-named saviors — Fuser, Orgoo, Xobni and Xoopit — have a simple goal. They want to centralize communication, and they want to give it structure and meaning. Locally, I have written about a refreshingly new app Colayer here.

The question is, just how painful is existing consumer email? The majority of us are lazy, and we’ll put up with a lot before learning a new system. Sure, our Yahoo Mail may be clunky at times, but it’s “good enough,” right? But as Chris Morrison sees it, If they only appeal to a tiny sub-set of users, it looks more like all four startups are doomed to failure.

Here’s Chris Morrison’s nice coverage from Venturebeat, for those interested in email renaissance…

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