Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Do you yahoo or google?

For years after we (we being X and I) got our first computer (thanks, Dad), we shared an email. It was an nycap.rr.com address, through our ISP. X did the whole outlook thing, and for years - and years - that was how we got our email.

When that wasn't going to work anymore (re: divorce), I had to come up with my own email solution. For a while, that email was mine alone, since it was still being delivered to the account at the house, and the computer set up hadn't change.

I knew it would though, and in anticipation of that, I set up a gmail account.

The thing was - and I'm just being honest - I didn't like gmail at that time. It's set up was...confusing to me, probably because, for better or worse, I was accustomed to outlook.

Then another problem disaster challenge presented itself: online dating. I'd meet guys through a site, and want to move communication off that site to somewhere more convenient - but I learned pretty fast I didn't want random men cluttering up my gmail.

Enter yahoo - which, it turned out, was much more appealing to me. It's interface was more like outlook, I could chat right from the inbox, and everyone did the same thing I did (used yahoo as their "I'm not really sure I want to 'know' you" account). So, yahoo stuck.

Recently, yahoo released a beta version of it's new email format, and I switched over. I do love it - it will keep tabs on my friends who are online in facebook and yahoo, and I can chat right from my inbox. I can view facebook and twitter updates, and I can update my yahoo status - and send it right to those other social networking sites at the same time.

One problem....because this is an update, and I work in a technological vacuum, I can't use yahoo at work anymore. Well, I can - from my phone. Not especially convenient.

So, I turned to old, reliable gmail to save the day.

Yahoo is soooo last century.
I started emailing friends from that account during the day, instead of yahoo. I've started using gchat more often - and it turns out, it works really, really well, even on my work browser - which I'm pretty sure is the same one Wilma used to chat with Betty.

As it turns out - the interface is a little different - or maybe it's just different than I remember. In any case, it's easier to keep track of emails, to sort them, and of course gmail's storage is practically endless. I'm still having trouble with how a "conversation" is saved - but I'm getting used to that.

Importing contacts is, naturally, easy (hey, it's freaking google) and all my most important friends have a gmail account. So I can totally save yahoo for sign-ins and petitions and free online accounts.

And all the cooties.

1 comment:

  1. I use my old yahoo account to keep track of coupons and billing reminders from my favorite stores and any other potentially spam email.

    My gmail is for my friends and family (and important bills) only.

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