Yahoo Mail Goes Ajax - Finally
The Ajax version of Yahoo Mail has finally had its beta tag removed and is now the default interface for all Yahoo Mail accounts. The new service includes two interesting real-time communication features:
1) Free text messaging to mobile phone numbers (but only available in the US, Canada, India and the Philippines);
2) Integrated instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.
The Ajax version went into public beta in September 2006 and it's been a long journey since Yahoo acquired Oddpost, a pioneer in Ajax-powered Web mail, in July 2004. But it has been steady progress - in November 2005 Yahoo put RSS into Mail, then in March 2007 Yahoo Mail got an API and unlimited storage.
Techcrunch has more details of tonight's news and some great comparisons. For me, Gmail's Web Native functionality still wins out - although lately I've been experiencing frustrating performance issues with Gmail.
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The RSS functionality sucks big time.
Try adding a new feed here vs. in Google Reader and you will see what I mean. The damn thing couldn't even locate a rss feed when I searched for 'yuiblog'. And the time it does take to load a feed...its like molasses.
Yep, RSS in web mail is probably only of use for a small number of feeds. For heavy duty RSS users, you need a full-on Reader like Bloglines or G Reader.
For all the excitement about the new and improved Yahoo Mail, I gave it up long ago for GMail, and haven't looked back. To be honest, the Yahoo beta never grabbed me enough to stick around even though I'd been a Yahoo user for several years.
Yahoo took Oddpost and then ruined it. The RSS reader in Oddpost was much better, containing the full post, not just summaries. Yahoo also got rid of a neat calendar function and replaced it with that useless timeline. I won't even go into how customer service changed. It used to be excellent in Oddpost. The only thing better now is that the Yahoo plus is $10 cheaper.
Boo...doesn't work with Safari or Camino.
Out of Beta . . . Continues to inexplicably not be compatible with Firefox 1.5 or higher, despite the requirements being Firefox 1.5 or higher. Many, many web searches, no apparent solution.
Fernando-I've been using firefox with the new yahoo mail forever. Dunno what you're talking about-never had compatibility issues.