Yahoo Mail Goes Ajax - Finally

The Ajax version of Yahoo Mail has finally had its beta tag removed and is now the default interface for all Yahoo Mail accounts. The new service includes two interesting real-time communication features:

1) Free text messaging to mobile phone numbers (but only available in the US, Canada, India and the Philippines);

2) Integrated instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.

The Ajax version went into public beta in September 2006 and it's been a long journey since Yahoo acquired Oddpost, a pioneer in Ajax-powered Web mail, in July 2004. But it has been steady progress - in November 2005 Yahoo put RSS into Mail, then in March 2007 Yahoo Mail got an API and unlimited storage.

Techcrunch has more details of tonight's news and some great comparisons. For me, Gmail's Web Native functionality still wins out - although lately I've been experiencing frustrating performance issues with Gmail.

雅虎邮件终于用上了Ajax

Ajax版的雅虎邮件终于摘到了beta的帽子，成为所有雅虎邮件用户的默认界面。这个新的服务有两个有趣的实时通讯特性：

1、免费手机短信（只在美国、加拿大、印度和菲律宾有效）
2、集成了Yahoo! Messenger和Windows Live Messenger
Ajax版的雅虎邮件从2006年9月开始公开测试，而这距离雅虎2004年收购Oddpost（一家邮件服务商，是Ajax应用的先锋）已经过去了很长时间。但是，雅虎一步一步走得很扎实——2005年11月推出邮件RSS，2007年3月雅虎邮件有了API并宣布无限存储空间。
Techcrunch报道了更多关于该新闻的细节并做了一些比较。对于我来说，Gmail的网络本地化（注1）还是要略胜一筹——虽然最近我对Gmail的一些表现也很失望。



注1：原文是Gmail's Web Native Functionality，意思是让用户感觉在网络中操作和在本地操作没有差别。在Read Write Web的另一篇文章中曾经将Gmail可以在任意一台电脑上登陆并保存自己的设置这个例子来解释Web Native。