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Facebook's Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming on Monday

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I thought facebook and gmail were already connected somehow? I know that when I signed onto facebook, it scanned my gmail account,and tried to suggest friends to me based on my gmail address book.

If they are really advertising this as a gmail killer, google should pull the rug out from under them, and break any links/integrations that fb has with them.
 
Sticking with Gmail. I have a Facebook account, but I also don't put anything on there that I don't want other people to see, even though I have my stuff locked to friends only. I certainly wasn't going to give Facebook the password to my Gmail account. That's just stupid.
 
Wyndru said:
I thought facebook and gmail were already connected somehow? I know that when I signed onto facebook, it scanned my gmail account,and tried to suggest friends to me based on my gmail address book.

If they are really advertising this as a gmail killer, google should pull the rug out from under them, and break any links/integrations that fb has with them.
Click to expand...

They just used Gmail's API to pull names + email addresses. Google recently banned them from the API, so they're doing it another way now.

Google has nothing to fight back with, if they prevent Facebook from accessing Gmail accounts via POP or SMTP, they'll be going back on their "openness" doctrine that has made people such a fan of theirs.

People are also failing to understand that FB isn't trying to replace your gmail, yahoo, or home mail account... they're trying to get you to check it through Facebook. Yeah, you'll probably get a "username@fb.com" account, but that's secondary. Facebook's aim is to become your one-stop shop on the internet: see what your friends are up to, share something about yourself, RSVP to events, and check your email. I'm sure they'll eventually roll out something that tries to integrate Twitter and RSS feeds, too.

As long as their new messaging app is good, this move is absolutely brilliant.
 
lxskllr said:
I TRUST Google. Privacy slip ups that occur with them strike me more as an oversight, rather than malice. Facebook I don't trust, and privacy issues with them seem intentional to me.
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Why do you trust Google? You have no reason to trust them. Like Facebook, they make all their money on your data. Lest you've forgotten, Google doesn't exactly have a perfect track record with privacy, either. The last year or two has been pretty rough for them in that regard.

At least Facebook is somewhat open about the fact that they don't care about your privacy. Google hides under this "don't be evil" mantra that is pretty much BS.
 
Deeko said:
Why do you trust Google? You have no reason to trust them. Like Facebook, they make all their money on your data. Lest you've forgotten, Google doesn't exactly have a perfect track record with privacy, either. The last year or two has been pretty rough for them in that regard.

At least Facebook is somewhat open about the fact that they don't care about your privacy. Google hides under this "don't be evil" mantra that is pretty much BS.
Click to expand...
I disagree - the engineers working on it are well aware of the implications of privacy and security. At least for facebook employees, it's at the center of their decision making, and so it's kept in mind at all times and frequently debated.

I have reason to trust them - if they do a good job, I'll be using their products for a long time. If they don't, I'll use something else. If they want a real business and not just a few years of success, they'll do a good job. It's in their own self interest to take care of us.
 
Number1 said:
I don't know what fucking world you're living in but it sound's awful.

Are they still keying you name plate at work? Gee, I wonder why?

You always come across as a cranky miserable old bastard, ie HappyPuppy type. (well, not that bad but close)
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Go cry on your facebook page, emo boy.
 
AgaBoogaBoo said:
I disagree - the engineers working on it are well aware of the implications of privacy and security. At least for facebook employees, it's at the center of their decision making, and so it's kept in mind at all times and frequently debated.

I have reason to trust them - if they do a good job, I'll be using their products for a long time. If they don't, I'll use something else. If they want a real business and not just a few years of success, they'll do a good job. It's in their own self interest to take care of us.
Click to expand...

They're aware - that doesn't mean they care. A great example with Facebook was when they redesigned your profile to have everything be a link to a page instead of just text. Do you think it was an accident that all of those new pages were made public? That's such a big slip up that there's no way it was an accident - either they were completely incompetent, or they were completely not caring about your privacy. Which one was it?

These companies make money on data. Its not their job to care about your privacy - its their job to walk the fine line, taking as much of your privacy away as they think they can get away with without you leaving them. And when they cross it, they can just pull one of these and its all ok: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/360436/were-sorry
 
AgaBoogaBoo said:
I disagree - the engineers working on it are well aware of the implications of privacy and security. At least for facebook employees, it's at the center of their decision making, and so it's kept in mind at all times and frequently debated.

I have reason to trust them - if they do a good job, I'll be using their products for a long time. If they don't, I'll use something else. If they want a real business and not just a few years of success, they'll do a good job. It's in their own self interest to take care of us.
Click to expand...

It's our job to make SURE it's in their self-interest to take care of us, which means not buying into everything they offer and punishing them by withdrawing business when they don't do things right. Otherwise your system doesn't work. And most people won't punish a corporation at the cost of their own inconvenience.
 
guyver01 said:
i highly doubt anything facebook does regarding email will become a "gmail" killer.

Facebook as a whole is blocked at many many corporations, where Gmail is not.
IT departments aren't going to unblock facebook so people can get their email.

only the twilight tweeners will jump on the "ooh facebook email" train.

the corporate world, the working world... wont.

it will have the AOL email stigmatism attached to it.
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Absolutely. If someone tries to interview with a @facebook.com address they are not getting any sort of Engineering job, I can tell you that.


Deeko said:
Why do you trust Google? You have no reason to trust them. Like Facebook, they make all their money on your data. Lest you've forgotten, Google doesn't exactly have a perfect track record with privacy, either. The last year or two has been pretty rough for them in that regard.

At least Facebook is somewhat open about the fact that they don't care about your privacy. Google hides under this "don't be evil" mantra that is pretty much BS.
Click to expand...

First off, no one has been as bad at privacy violations as facebook (Sony tried but they're old news now).

Secondly, I think the face that google has been making money for a long time makes me feel a lot more comfortable with them.
 
thepd7 said:
Absolutely. If someone tries to interview with a @facebook.com address they are not getting any sort of Engineering job, I can tell you that.
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Unless its something blatantly offensive, I think the domain of someone's email address is a pretty stupid reason to not hire someone. I wouldn't want to work for that boss anyway.

First off, no one has been as bad at privacy violations as facebook (Sony tried but they're old news now).

Secondly, I think the face that google has been making money for a long time makes me feel a lot more comfortable with them.
Click to expand...

Sure, Facebook sucks at privacy, but they've basically said as much. They don't hide under the rosy pretense that Google does. The fact that Google is big and makes a lot of money makes you more comfortable? Why?

They both suck at privacy. If you care about your privacy, you probably shouldn't use either of them. Personally, I don't really care, I don't put anything online that would be the end of the world if it got out. But a lot of people don't think that way (or are oblivious to the privacy holes in Facebook/Google/etc)
 
AreaCode707 said:
It's our job to make SURE it's in their self-interest to take care of us, which means not buying into everything they offer and punishing them by withdrawing business when they don't do things right. Otherwise your system doesn't work. And most people won't punish a corporation at the cost of their own inconvenience.
Click to expand...
If it's inconvenient, then it's must not be a big enough problem for them to act, at which point they are better off with their situation. Consumers will act when they're better off doing something.

This doesn't mean we all need to monitor Facebook on a daily basis and read their policies, it'll happen over time. If there's a big enough issue, people will take notice, but in reality, Facebook wants to operate a real business for the long term, because that's where the profit is, not something in the short term, and so they will fix it before it becomes a large enough issue for people to go elsewhere.

They've seen what doing dumb things did to MySpace, that's how they took the lead. You don't think they'll stay on their toes again? You don't think the board of directors knows the issues at hand, especially when investors are coming in at 25 billion dollar valuations? These are skilled folks that will be doing everything they can to make sure things work well.
 
Deeko said:
They're aware - that doesn't mean they care. A great example with Facebook was when they redesigned your profile to have everything be a link to a page instead of just text. Do you think it was an accident that all of those new pages were made public? That's such a big slip up that there's no way it was an accident - either they were completely incompetent, or they were completely not caring about your privacy. Which one was it?

These companies make money on data. Its not their job to care about your privacy - its their job to walk the fine line, taking as much of your privacy away as they think they can get away with without you leaving them. And when they cross it, they can just pull one of these and its all ok: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/360436/were-sorry
Click to expand...
If the risk is that big, don't use Facebook.

It's really quite simple - if we use the service of a company, there are risks that come with it. As a consumer, I'm fine with the risks that Facebook brings. If it's too risky, I won't use it.

No one is saying we have to use it, but I do because I'm better off by using it, even if they make mistakes. I'm very happy with the way they're doing things.
 
lol, Facebook is playing for all the marbles -- email, sms, everything.

I can't believe you guys can't see how this is going to absolutely enormous. High school and college kids are going to eat this up, regardless of whether or not they used their provided @fb or @facebook email address.
 
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