Google's quest to have as many people as possible on Gmail has reached it's final logical step: you no longer need to change your email address to use the service.
In a new program, known as 'Gmailify', Google is offering users of other email platforms "the best of Gmail, without an @gmail address".
Although it has been possible for many years to use Gmail with custom domains, and to send and receive email from other providers through Google's site, Gmailify brings the more powerful features of the system including spam protection to those with Outlook, Hotmail or Yahoo addresses.
Gmailify will give access to Gmail's automatic inbox sorting system, which splits emails regarding social media, promotions and 'updates' into separate inboxes, in theory leaving your main inbox clear and simple. You'll get access to Google Now cards too.
The downside is that you'll still need a Gmail address in order to use the service -- you just won't need to change your existing email address in addition for signing up to Google. So far it's avaialble on Android and the web, though support for iOS and other systems would seem a sensible future update. Google added that other email systems will also be added later.
It also remains possible to get many of the same benefits by using POP3 to import messages from other accounts, and Gmail's 'Send Mail As' feature to mask your Google address for another email. Again, many of these features have been available for some time, making Gmailify in some ways a branding exercise as much as a new feature suite.
At the same time, Microsoft announced that Outlook.com would be taken out of preview and would be enhanced with several new features of its own. Microsoft describes the new Outlook as "a business-class email experience" that includes built-in document collaboration. Integration with Dropbox and Box, as well as one-drive, and will now be enhanced -- just like Twitter-- with integrated Giphy support. Whether or not that will prove to be a pleasant sprinkle of delight in your inbox, or a deathly waste of time, will no doubt depend in large part on each your ability to endure cute pigs being washed in a sink.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
