Seven Reasons You Should Switch From Yahoo to Gmail

Published by MaxBro on Tagged Features

Three months ago I switched my primary email account from Yahoo to Gmail, and my life has improved dramatically. Food tastes better, beer tastes sweeter. Even my car’s gasoline burns longer, and instead of emitting harmful Co2 the tailpipe only spits out beautiful butterflies that flap away into the sky. Going from Yahoo to Gmail is like changing from Top Ramen to filet mignon.

I haven’t always been a born-again Gmailer. I used to put up with a lot of little Yahoo quirks just for the sake of keeping my long established email address. Understandably, there are a lot of people who don’t want to switch because of that reason. I first joined Yahoo around 2003-04 or so after leaving AOL.com as my primary email account holder. Even though AOL had lost its 90’s heyday luster (remember all those “Free Internet for 90 days!” CDs back then?), I remember struggling with the decision because I’d used AOL and a lot of its features since 1999. That’s a long time using one particular website for your online communication needs.

But aside from the convenience and loyalty factors, like AOL, Yahoo has also spent the last ten years building a community around its homepage. With just your email ID you can play online games, search the Personals, set up accounts with other Yahoo features, etc. But while Yahoo and AOL focus on appealing to a mainstream audience that just wants a safe, general kind of online experience, Google has spent its time releasing functions that help speed up your productivity.

For sure, Yahoo has plenty of nice features. But here are seven reasons I ultimately left Yahoo:

1.) Cluttered, annoying homepage.

Yahoo has always reminded me of those collages you had to make in middle school to showcase your knowledge of current events. It’s like if someone created a website where they tried to cram in every possible thing in existence, the finished product would be the Yahoo homepage.

These days it’s easy to find news on whatever I want anywhere I want, even sometimes when I don’t want it. So, it’d be nice if I can at least access my email without getting bombarded by news about the latest suicide bombing, Lindsay Lohan mishap, or some recipe for pasta I could care less about because I’m not a stay-at-home-mom. If Yahoo was a person, it’d be that soccer mom neighbor you try to avoid because she never shuts up about her kids, her pets, her house and every other stupid thing in existence. All I want is my email, not an excuse to shoot myself or an assault on my masculinity.

2.) Pointless drop-down feature that can freeze up your computer unexpectedly.

Yahoo got cute with their latest update and installed a drop-down feature that reveals your latest incoming email. Except half the time the box doesn’t show you your email but throws this at you:

What’s the point of even having a window to my email if I still have to click on the link to access it? It may only be one click, but those extra clicks add up and ultimately waste my time.

3.) Pointless email landing page.

Not only do I have to click a link on the homepage to access my email, but doing that only gets me to another page that just tells me whether I have any unread messages or not. Why not save me the extra click and take me directly to the pages that display my email? Why does Yahoo think I have nothing better to do than sit around gawking at their latest news headlines and click on their Personals ads? If not due to a lack of common sense, I would attribute this mostly to hubris. Yahoo is so sure of itself it has no fear making the task of accessing my email both cumbersome and annoying.

4.) Frighteningly long domain for the email landing page.

Let’s compare the length of Yahoo’s domain to Gmail’s.

Big difference, right? Gmail, short and simple. Yahoo, absurdly long and I imagine NSA encryption codes are probably less complex than that.

5.) Spam, spam, lots of spam.

I’m really amazed. I thought the whole threat of spam died away in the 90’s, and yet Yahoo still seems absolutely befuddled on how to prevent even the most blatant forms from entering my inbox. In a single day my inbox turned into this:

I guess that little “Spam” button is just there to give my index finger some exercise.

6.) Ads, Ads, Ads!

Total number of ads encountered accessing my email from Yahoo: 14
Yahoo’s stock price: $29.35 a share (close as of 10/18/07)

Total number of ads encountered accessing Gmail: 1
Google’s stock price: $639.62 a share (close as of 10/18/07)

Gmail displays less than 10% the number of ads as Yahoo, yet Google’s stock is 22 times more valuable. Ever wonder why Google’s stock keeps rising like Bill Clinton’s trousers at an intern convention? Well, aside from many factors it’s partly because when you access your email Google doesn’t pimp smack you between the eyes with a giant fucking ad like this:

7.) Crappy notepad feature.

“Yahoo Notepad is sleek, well-designed and completely functional for the demands of the modern working American.” That description would fit most aptly if it was 1997. Instead, we’re left with what looks like something a bunch of code jockeys slapped together in their free time away from putting together more useless Yahoo ads. Doesn’t Yahoo have billions of dollars to invest in making it’s website (ranked #1 on Alexa) and all it’s features the best possible tools for web users worldwide? Maybe they’re still paying off the lawsuit to that yodeler they ripped off for their commercials. Really, what kind of company rips off a yodeler?

Stop wasting your time with Yahoo. It may be painful, and it’s possible you may suffer some withdrawal symptoms when you switch. But it’s worth it, and you’ll be able to use the web as it was meant to be used–as a tool to radically improve your productivity and communication.

(Originally published 9/20/07)

Share

Related Posts:

November 11th, 2007

Copyright © Max-Bro.net | WP Theme based on Elite Circle | Diabetic Socks Corporate Gift Baskets