3 years after releasing Gmail 2.0, Google decided to drop the old version, which doesn't include features like themes, Gmail Labs, Gmail Chat, Buzz, hiding labels or multiple file upload.
"You're using an old version of Gmail which will be retired in September. At that point, you'll be redirected to a basic HTML view. To get faster Gmail and the newest features, please upgrade to a modern browser," informs a Gmail message.
Most likely, Google continued to offer to the old version of Gmail because the new version doesn't work well in Internet Explorer 6. If you visit Gmail in IE6 and you haven't installed this patch, you can't switch to the new version, even if you manually change the URL. Staring from next month, IE6 users will be redirected to the "basic HTML" interface, used for outdated browsers.
Google rarely provides the option to switch to an old version of an application or a feature. For example, you can still switch to the old image search interface, to the old Gmail contact manager and you can still use the classic Blogger editor (an option that will be removed soon). Preserving the old version of a service could be helpful to determine if users like the new version, but it's not a good idea to keep an interface that's no longer maintained. Some users might never try the new version of the application because it doesn't look familiar, while other users might never notice that the initial bugs have been fixed.
{ Thanks, George. }
google added in the footer a link for old contact manager https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2#cm1
ReplyDeleteI always love gmail in every way. :-)
ReplyDeleteI just realized it again. Thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know the old version was still going!
ReplyDeleteThe old version is significantly faster than the full version, however. With it gone, using a competitor such as the new Hotmail can become more attractive on slower computers, netbooks and the like.
ReplyDeleteWhat's slow in the new version? Does it load slowly? Does it slow down your computer?
ReplyDeleteI wish they would fix the new one first. In a 1024x*00 resolution, everything looks awful, specially once you have a label name displayed on top.
ReplyDeleteI'm still using the old version. It's a bit faster and also it's using the screen real estate much more efficiently - I can see more in the conversation snippet, and there are more conversations visible in the screen. I don't know if it's because of a smaller font or just because the conversation list is more compact in the old version, but the new version looks "sparse" to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame the old version is going away.
I don't have Gmail, but some Spaniard took my name (cantueso), opened up an account here and wrote messages in Google groups in my name in awful English, making me feel ashamed.
ReplyDelete@cantueso: I guess it's time to change your username to something else, lest people mistaken that stranger for you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I missed the old version. It works quite well with my opera browser.
The new version looks terrible to me, just a list of contacts over multiple pages. This works well for emails, but this is a Contact Manager - one size doesn't fit all.
ReplyDeleteThe old version was very efficient for contact management; the new one doesn't let me see the group list and contact details at the same time (yes, I do use it this way in some situations). I wish they would just add the old version as an option in their "Settings"...
The 'Older version" works much better over dial-up (yes, there are many people that still use this). The standard version can take up to 2 minutes to load with all the extra features. The Basic HTML version doesn't have enough features.
ReplyDeleteWith so many of us apparently happy and content with the older version, why is Google doing away with it. I don't like kicking and screaming that much.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the person above that said it works well on dialup. That's the only reason I use the old version, because the new version won't load completely and keeps giving the stupid "items on the page didn't load" error, and it won't let me open my emails. The HTML version, as stated, is a joke. Might as well go back to sending letters through snail mail as to use that one. By cutting out the old version, Google is just cutting off everybody that's on dialup and/or making them go to a competitor for email service.
ReplyDeleteThe old version is very neat and tidy. The new version just looks cluttered and disorganized. The basic HTML version isn't very good-looking, either.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame they're discontinuing the old version. Would it hurt to just have it there? It doesn't have to be updated to exist.
Please allow older version access to any body who needs to use it.
ReplyDeleteThe older version option was available at the bottom but not any longer after I closed the Gmail message on top saying
"You're using an old version of Gmail which will be retired in September. At that point, you'll be redirected to a basic HTML view. To get faster Gmail and the newest features, please upgrade to a modern browser"
Now I cannot get the older version option anywhere in the page.
This sucks, the new version takes a trip to the coffee maker to load and change. I would click on older version every day. Now I have to find another browser.
ReplyDeleteI never had any problems with gmail until one day out of the blue it became painfully slow upon opening. Most of the time it never opened ay all (kept getting the not responding message). I had no idea why it suddenly started acting this way so I searched online and came across a message board that suggested for people having this problem to start clicking on the link at the bottom of the homepage to use the older version. Once I tried it, it was like the old gmail again- it actually worked! Now that they have removed the link I'm screwed! I'm back to not being able to open my email at all and I have 200+ emails on this account(which only takes up about 7% memory),some of which are very important & some that I haven't even read yet. I've noticed comments about a reason this could be happening is due to an older browser, but I do not have an older browser, I've downloaded the most current one several times, as well as attempting to use Safari & Firefox instead but I still have the same problem. As soon as I can figure out how to temporarily get it to work, I'm going to retrieve my emails, send them to my other email account (which I swore I'd never go back to due to the massive amount of spam I gt on it) and say goodbye to gmail for good. It's been nothing but a headache. If anyone has any ideas on how I can get it working again- please post. I have family pictures that I would be very disappointed if I could never retrieve. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteif you want to use the old version for now, add &ui=1 to the bookmark or url when using gmail.
ReplyDeleteFor example go to:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1
This will load the old version until September. Sadly, only until September :(
I don't like new version. I want old version back. please help me.
ReplyDelete