Category: Technology Author : Steven Hodson Posted: December 8, 2008
Tags : gmail, google, Google Tasks, Remember the Milk
Everyone is so in love with Google. It seems that 99% of the time they can do no wrong and when they do it’s forgotten by the time of the next news cycle. We are always hearing people singing praises about their web apps. GMail rules, GReader rules and iGoolge .. well okay maybe it doesn’t rule but people still like it.
What happens though if you create an application that is equally loved as anything that Google puts out?
Well if you are Remember The Milk (RTM) you do your very best to play nice with Google by integrating yourself inside their most popular web app – GMail. After all it’s a smart business move – right?
At the very least you get some great press and make your VC backers very happy. At the very best you get that great pay day everyone was hoping for when Google buys you up.
Now I don’t use RTM but I see a lot of people talking about it on Twitter, FriendFeed or their blogs. It’s all the snitz with the social media crowd. It wasn’t until I was reading a post by Stowe Boyd where he quite rightly pointed out how easy it was to switch from RTM in GMail over to the new Google Tasks that got launched today that I realized that playing nice with Google might not pay off.
While Stowe didn’t come right out and say this move by Google to basically rip off RTM with their Tasks integration with GMail it’s not hard to see the effect it will have. Sure I know this move by Google doesn’t necessarily spell the end of Remember The Milk but damn, it sure is a slap in the face.
Considering that the majority of the market for RTM was the same do everything on the web crew that are big fans of GMail the integration of the two was a natural. Not anymore though it would seem and with that section of the marketplace now having a native Google option to RTM that’s gotta hurt the bottom line.
I guess in this case it was really cheaper to create something in-house rather than buying up an existing company – much to RTM’s downfall. No longer does it seem a case of if Google wants your application that they buy the business. Nope .. now they’ll just kill it off with their copy off it.
![[Video] Did Duncan Hines invent the most racist cupcakes on the internet?](http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2010/12/duncan-hines-amazing-glazes-racist-100x100.jpg)
Dec 8, 2008
Build or buy.
In this case, legal work for “Buy” would have taken longer than just building it.
Dec 8, 2008
Yeah, but that's not Google's fault. They didn't have a “platform” for people to add RTM to Gmail … people had to hack Gmail to get it.
So when Gmail comes out with their own version, no-one should be surprised.
Especially after all the backstabbing Facebook has done since their “platform” launched.
It's the price of being stupid, I suppose.
–Kyle
Dec 8, 2008
Interesting article…… Everything nice cannot be play without paying..
Dec 9, 2008
This post makes absolutely no sense. Couldn't there be a different reason for RTM to integrate with Gmail than to be acquired by Google? (Like providing an useful service that enough people pay for to be profitable?) RTM is still much more than the new Gmail Tasks, and even though many people will likely switch from RTM to Gmail Tasks, those who pay for RTM are those who use the iPhone/iPod touch, Blackberry and Windows Mobile sync tools, and they'll continue to use RTM.
RTM is a useful service, that's why it's loved by its customers, both paying and not-paying, having competition on one of the platforms they support won't change that basic fact.
Dec 9, 2008
Companies the size of Google (or Microsoft) rarely have such well-defined decisions for Build vs Buy, it often just bubbles up from engineering. In the case of GMail tasks, I suspect one or more Googlers just decided to do it in their 20% time because they thought it would be cool. I doubt there was any sort of formal due diligence process of whether to acquire RTM versus build in-house.
Dec 10, 2008
Founding a start up just to get acquired by some bigger company doesn't sound really serious (and I doubt that it has ever been RTM's main intention…)
If you develop a web service the main goal should be to make it the best of its kind – I believe it's that simple – a few ideas, like throwing together a task list app, are definitely not a “killer web application” – so if that has been the only idea behind RTM it wouldn't be worth to waste any comment on it.
From my observations Google has (very often) acquired companies when it saved a lot of development ressources to do so, plus they also try to be as open as possible with their own services/apps (besides a few restrictions – hey they can't just do what they want, even if they're Google…)
No, they don't pay me – and yes, I'm also watching their activities with care – but to build a task list for Gmail IMHO is either not a big deal nor a rip off or even more a slap into RTM's face.
Dec 11, 2008
Wait, they 'ripped off RTM' – WTH?
You do remember RTM didn't invent the 'todo' list, right?
Everyone has been bugging gmail for ages to add a todo or task list. They added a task list.
Add to todo list: Untwist knickers
Dec 17, 2008
RTM has been pitiful in its responsiveness to user demands. As an example, see the user forum re adding Outlook sync functionality to RTM:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/1540/
RTM's comment to the initial request was, to quote, “It's still something that we're looking at, but it turned out that there wasn't as much demand for this feature as we thought there might be, so it hasn't been a high priority.”
This (from Jan 2007) was followed by comments from hundreds of incredulous Outlook users that, for them at least, it WAS a priority function if they were to continue to use RTM.
And RTM's response over the subsequent two year period?
Silence.
Like it or not, Outlook is one of the most common syncing options for mobile devices – so if RTM can sync with Outlook it can (by proxy) sync with nearly all the mobile devices out there. This works without Outlook even needing to be running on the computer. As an example, Google Calendar sync enables my crappy old Nokia phone calendar to bluetooth sync (via my laptop and Outlook) with my Google Calendar.
RTM have got what they deserved, I'm afraid.