Not So Oddpost

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Yahoo! Acquires Oddpost

Yahoo! Acquires Oddpost 07/12/2004 05:35 PM
ClickZ Today Jul 12 2004 9:28PM GMT

Why Yahoo! bought Oddpost

Why Yahoo! bought Oddpost 07/12/2004 12:38 PM
Adding a new twist to my mention of Oddpost in last Wednesday's item, More on rich clients, Yahoo! just bought the ...

congrats: oddpost goes to yahoo

congrats: oddpost goes to yahoo 07/10/2004 01:10 AM
a great app and good people deserve the recognition and the dollars. well done.

Why Yahoo buying ODDpost is so important

Why Yahoo buying ODDpost is so important 07/10/2004 06:41 AM

Wow - OK we start off with some different opinions on this historic deal from (it's 3:30AM and I just gotta blog this NOW!):

Ev (Evan Eliiams of Blogger/Google)

Congrats to the Oddposters!

I always liked those guys (though we never got around to having lunch... damn, and
now, between their supermodel dates and rockstar parties, I doubt they'll return
my emails. I shoulda made friends with them when I had the chance... Then again, it's useful now that we're sworn enemies that we were never friends...)

Here's to the web world continuing to heat up with new and interesting things brought to more people!

Dave Winer......

A couple of weeks ago I got a heads-up that this deal had been consumated and would be announced shortly. Little did I imagine then that they would pick a Friday evening to make the announcement, but that's the way it goes. It's
a big one.

Oddpost turned the idea of what you could do with a browser upside down, by producing a clone of Microsoft Outlook in JavaScript and DHTML running in MSIE. Since then, they have labored in relative obscurity, growing a customer base, raising VC money, adding people, and staying out of the way. Then Google launches Gmail, with a
very Oddpostish interface, and someone at Yahoo says "Hmmm, I've seen that somewhere," calls up Ethan and Iain and their new VCs and asks "Are you for sale?" and the rest is history. Now Google has competition on elegance of user interface. Sorry the announcement comes at such an awkard time, everyone in the tech press must be getting in their cars and driving to the beach or the mountains. Congrats to the Oddpost guys, and their users and investors, and congrats to Google for getting some new worthwhile competition. Now who is Microsoft going to buy?

Techdirt... .

So, we actually heard about this a couple weeks ago, when someone (who knew) passed
on the fact that Yahoo had bought Oddpost in an attempt to fight back against the Gmail craze. Now, though, the deal is official, so it's okay to talk about it (though it had been hinte d at earlier this week). It's really not that surprising, after all. Yahoo knew
they needed to upgrade their email, and Oddpost has a great reputation for their
interface. You can be sure that Yahoo wasn't the only company sniffing around
and debating whether or not to buy up Oddpost. While it's probably not going to
be the lead in most stories, it is quite interesting that one of Oddpost's nicer
features is an integrated RSS reader. Yahoo keeps talking up the power of RSS,
and perhaps this will allow them to make a bigger commitment. However, in all
likelihood, it was just the mail interface that fascinated them. It seems like a
good move by Yahoo who needed to do something.

OK - here's where my opinion starts......

This story is much more than Yahoo buying ODDpost to compete with GMail. Sure - that's part of it - and I'm sure that's what Terry Semel et al have in thier heads, but it's this sort of viral infusion into Yahoo that was needed.

This is much bigger than the search engine battles or even Yahoo versus Google.

This is about RIAs (rich internet apps), integrated web services and open standards being fused with productivity software, micro-content and social networking and offered as hosted experiences.

Does this sound like anything familiar?

Yahoo has defined what portals have been - since day one - but their UI just plain sucked! Even the valiant attempts at providing "customization" features in MyYahoo - were tolerable at best.

Yahoo supports RSS and has over 120M active end-users. Yahoo is showing how portals and ISPs can work together by providing software bundled with services - to the masses.

But ODDpost makes it a whole new ball game.

Now Yahoo can step up to teh front on "end-user" experience. That holey grail that's been eluding them since day one. HTML was never desigend and will never fulfill the end-user quotient. The human factor.

The essence of compelling experiences.

HTML will also suck. But once you can truly integrate rich interactive experienecs in teh browser, and tie it into services and functionality - you got a winnign formula for digital lifestyle aggregation!

And once you have email, why stop there? Why not jukeboxes (like MySpace has) or photo blog objects (like Flickr) or Tribe Listings, Friends and Tribes appearing in blog gutters - as well?

Why stop there? Why not support an Open Listings standard and just completely screw Google completely?

Certainly let's hope that Yahoo will support FOAF.

Google is (or will) or (I sure hope they will.)

Yahoo Acquires Web Startup Oddpost

Yahoo Acquires Web Startup Oddpost 07/13/2004 10:00 PM
AP via Los Angeles Times Jul 14 2004 2:36AM GMT

Yahoo Acquires Web Startup Oddpost (AP)

Yahoo Acquires Web Startup Oddpost (AP) 07/13/2004 05:06 PM
AP - Yahoo Inc. girded itself for Google Inc.'s e-mail invasion by acquiring Oddpost Inc., a startup that has gained a reputation for making it easier and more enticing to communicate on the Web.

Yahoo! acquires Oddpost for webmail war

Yahoo! acquires Oddpost for webmail war 07/13/2004 03:15 AM
Silicon.com Jul 13 2004 7:51AM GMT

Yahoo Oddpost Link Roundup

Yahoo Oddpost Link Roundup 07/12/2004 08:58 PM
A few folks have asked me about this, and since they don't really tell us anything around here, I'll point you to some of the blog speculation, news, and whatnot. Not So Oddpost (Ross Mayfield) Yahoo has acquired Oddpost (Dave Winer) Why Yahoo buying ODDpost is so important (Marc Canter) Oddpost and Yahoo! (Evan Williams) Yahoo Buys Oddpost In A Gmail-Inspired Moment (Techdirt) Yahoo moves into new space (Red Herring Blog, with a title that makes one think we're moving...

Why Yahoo bought ODDpost - redux

Why Yahoo bought ODDpost - redux 07/12/2004 05:51 PM

Phil Wainwright groks it. He sees past the obvious GMail copycat syndrome to the real issues:

The fact that Yahoo! has bought a browser-based Outlook clone illustrates how big the threat really is to Microsoft's most lucrative products. These rich-client technologies significantly narrow the gap between browser-based applications and their desktop-based rivals. By simultaneously taking advantage of the unique advantages of being net-native — such as efficiencies of scale for information aggregation and analysis — they can combine a good-enough user experience with capabilities that simply aren't available (except at second-hand) within a traditional desktop environment. That opens the way towards Windows-based Outlook becoming an unloved, legacy application — and provides an opening for other good-enough alternatives to Word, Excel and Powerpoint to muscle their way in.

So Microsoft now faces a crucial decision. Does the company do likewise and bring out a rich-client interface for Hotmail so that its web-based email service begins to rival Gmail, Oddpost and, by implication, Outlook in functionality? Or does it continue to bury its head in the sand and put all its efforts into ensuring it delivers an all-new Windows architecture to a declining pool of desktop loyalists?

The battle is over end-user expereinecs folks. That's why small companies like Friendster and Technorati can come out of no where and develop huge followings. If what you provide rocks - they will come.

Having a hot UI front-end is key to that end-user customer satisfaction.

Oddpost, DHTML, and off-line Web
Applications

Oddpost, DHTML, and off-line Web
Applications 07/18/2004 12:30 AM
As you may have guessed, I didn't know much about Oddpost until recently. But since they're now part of the collective, I had the opportunity to meet with a few of the Oddpost folks on Friday. Aside from the getting an idea of how all their server-side stuff works (it's a classic example of "do the simplest thing that could possibly work" and I love that aspect of it), which was the real point of the meeting, I got to...

Yahoo acquires Oddpost to bolster e-mail

Yahoo acquires Oddpost to bolster e-mail 07/12/2004 02:06 PM
Massive portal buys small vendor that sells low-priced Web mail accounts and news aggregation services.

Yahoo Buys Email Startup Oddpost

Yahoo Buys Email Startup Oddpost 07/12/2004 09:11 AM
"Oddpost's $30-a-year e-mail service focuses on an e-mail interface with functionality that is similar to that of desktop applications such as Microsoft Outlook..."

Yahoo Buys Oddpost In A Gmail-Inspired
Moment

Yahoo Buys Oddpost In A Gmail-Inspired
Moment 07/09/2004 08:29 PM
So, we actually heard about this a couple weeks ago, when someone (who knew) passed on the fact that Yahoo had bought Oddpost in an attempt to fight back against the Gmail craze. Now, though, the deal is official, so it's okay to talk about it (though it had been hinte d at earlier this week). It's really not that surprising, after all. Yahoo knew they needed to upgrade their email, and Oddpost has a great reputation for their interface. You can be sure that Yahoo wasn't the only company sniffing around and debating whether or not to buy up Oddpost. While it's probably not going to be the lead in most stories, it is quite interesting that one of Oddpost's nicer features is an integrated RSS reader. Yahoo keeps talking up the power of RSS, and perhaps this will allow them to make a bigger commitment. However, in all likelihood, it was just the mail interface that fascinated them. It seems like a good move by Yahoo who needed to do something.

Not Quite Oddpost, But Google Acquires
Photo Sharing Company

Not Quite Oddpost, But Google Acquires
Photo Sharing Company 07/13/2004 12:13 PM
Well, it's not quite as big a deal as Yahoo buying Oddpost, but Google has now bought photo-sharing company Picasa, which was already a Blogger partner. It's not a huge surprise to see Google expanding their offerings in more of the portal direction. The only question, of course, is how many spare Gmail gigs are going to be offered for people storing photos. Also, will people now complain that Google is scanning your personal photos in order to put up relevant advertising?

Yahoo buys Oddpost. Email wars begin

Yahoo buys Oddpost. Email wars begin 07/10/2004 06:48 AM

oddpost.com/yahoo.html
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Not So Oddpost

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