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		<title>Where is VolksMail?</title>
		<dateCreated>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:05:07 GMT</dateCreated>
		<dateModified>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:20:37 GMT</dateModified>
		<ownerName>Dave Winer</ownerName>
		<ownerEmail>dave.winer@gmail.com</ownerEmail>
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		<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:05:07 GMT" ctSaves="7" flPreview="false" id="2012.04.23.1776" server="xmlrpc://cms.scripting2.com:5337/RPC2" storySerialNum="1776" text="Where is VolksMail?" type="scripting2Post" url="http://scripting.com/stories/2012/04/23/whereIsVolksmail.html" username="davewiner" versionClient="0.44" versionServer="0.44" whenLastSave="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:20:37 GMT">
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:56:35 GMT" pgfnum="13713" text="I love the idea of minimal apps."></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:56:56 GMT" pgfnum="13714" text="Pick an application category and start building a product with just enough features to be useful for a newbie. One that might last a non-demanding user forever. "></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:58:16 GMT" pgfnum="13715" text="For example, the way I use a text editor, I don't need a lot of features. "></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:58:17 GMT" pgfnum="13716" text="&lt;img src=&quot;http://scripting.com/images/2012/04/23/beetle.gif&quot; width=&quot;145&quot; height=&quot;66&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;float: right; padding-left: 15px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 15px;&quot; alt=&quot;A picture named beetle.gif&quot;&gt;You can see the need for this if you're one of the people who was just switched to the new shell for Gmail. All of a sudden all the stuff that faded into the background comes to the front, demanding attention. Because you have to wade through all that to find the commands you need. The ones you used to be able to find with just the intelligence at the base of your spine. No need to involve higher brain function. You can see the need for a bare-bones email interface because you're looking at the bloat of a mature product that's been hitched up with all kinds of sales jobs. It has to sell all the other Google stuff. But all I want is email. I thought maybe I'd switch to Yahoo Mail, but it's worse. It actually has the new style ads with obnoxious and deformed people dancing and looking weird, to draw your attention to their message, selling whatever it is those ads sell."></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:59:42 GMT" pgfnum="13717" text="What are the basic operations in email?">
				<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:59:56 GMT" pgfnum="13718" text="1. Read new messages."></outline>
				<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:02 GMT" pgfnum="13719" text="2. Reply to this message."></outline>
				<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:08 GMT" pgfnum="13720" text="3. Create a new message."></outline>
				<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:16 GMT" pgfnum="13721" text="4. Forward a message."></outline>
				</outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:27 GMT" pgfnum="13722" text="What else can't you live without?">
				<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:00:41 GMT" pgfnum="13723" text="Messages with enclosures. "></outline>
				<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:05 GMT" pgfnum="13724" text="When reading a message with an enclosure, the reader should make it easy to see or listen to or otherwise use the items that are enclosed."></outline>
				</outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:53 GMT" pgfnum="13726" text="Maybe I'm missing some stuff. This would be the subject of debates and conferences. There might even be a professional standard set of features that must be in an email client in order for it to get the &quot;minimal&quot; seal of approval. "></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:35 GMT" pgfnum="13725" text="In 2012 there should be a healthy set of minimal web-based email clients. I don't think there's a single one."></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:03:14 GMT" pgfnum="13728" text="What other categories could be successfully minimized today?"></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:03:27 GMT" pgfnum="13729" text="Anything that's been around 20 years or more, it seems, could be."></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:03:44 GMT" pgfnum="13730" text="Think of it this way. A minimal app would be to apps like the VW Beetle was to cars. A volksmailer. "></outline>
			<outline created="Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:04:10 GMT" pgfnum="13731" text="Actually there was an early word processor called &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VolksWriter&quot;&gt;Volkswriter&lt;/a&gt;. It was a response to feature bloat in early WP apps."></outline>
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