And, Gmail offered threaded conversations – something previously popular in forums, but not in email interfaces.

In fact, threaded conversations is a feature that Cooper, in his usability book “The Lunatics are Taking over the Asylum”, cried out for several years ago, but no-one listened – until Google made gmail.

In fact, I think this focus usability is at the heart of Google’s design philosophy. It’s no co-incidence that Jakob Neilsen was one of Google’s early advisers.

Getting back to Cooper’s book – it’s central premise is that the geek culture of the software industry has made it insensitive, if not sadistic, towards “normal” non-geek users. He says this is because geeks design software for other geeks – power users, if you like. But most people aren’t geeks. Most people are like Abby.

Sebastian, the whole idea that the simple search box is “enough” represents a sea change. And I don’t think Google is pleased with the lack of adoption of its vertical search — see here. As for Gmail, I guess the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the fact remains that Gmail does not allow much customization.

David, I thought Microsoft already took Apple’s approach to computing — twenty years ago. Never really worked out though

I think that Google Search has one big advantage: The search box is enough for searching. Normal users are comfortable with not having unnecessary choice, but power users can find out shortcuts to tweak their search results, getting better and more robust results.
I think it’s good that Google doesn’t give its other search engines (Image, Video, etc.) too much attention, as everything’s integrated with the normal Google Web Search.
If there’s a search term that shows relevant news, I get OneBox-results from Google News. If it thinks there are relevant images, I get OneBox-results form Google Images.
I like that approach, because it makes search easier.
Just because power users have more knowledge of computers, or know better how to handle a web page, it doesn’t mean that everything has to be more complicated.

As with Gmail, I think that early adopters love it not because of search, but simply because of its simple user interface, because it threads e-mails, because it tags them, because its fast and responsive, because it uploads attachments while typing the message, because it has easy key shortcuts, etc.
I use search sometimes and that’s cool, too. But it’s much more that I love about it.
It’s simply rethinking the old model of how to look at e-mails, and this is what everybody loves. Power users as well as the ordinary Joe.

“99.9% is the world is NOT GEEKS. Get it? N-O-T G-E-E-K-S. They want something simple and robust, we give it to them, we make a mint.”

I agree it’s pity from the power-user point of view. But it’s hard to argue with success.