Google is now forcing gemini in their gmail app
I have an enterprise account and they added this button today. Guess what used to be there? The profile image where you could so conveniently swipe up or down to switch between gmail accounts. This is the kind of UI garbage that makes you want to move your entire company to another service just because you can.
I asked Gemini how to clear the cache on Google messages. It did not know.
IT COULDNT ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT THE APP ITS PART OF
Gemini: "I can't help you! I only work here!"
I can't help you. I don't work.
I asked Gemini to set up a counter as I always did on the other assistant and decided to tell me how much time there was left instead. I also asked it to play the news and it said it would but never did. I asked it if all cats knead and gave me a long explanation of what cats need. 😅
I can excuse the last one because of homophones even though ChatGPT got it immediately.
Hey Google.
I still can't create folders in the Android Gmail app. But somehow you had time for this?
"I'm sorry, I don't know how to help with that"
Gemini: "to create a folder, right click on the desktop, select new, them select folder. When the folder icon appears, type the name you want for your new folder."
Me: No... in Gmail!
Gemini: "Gmail is a google service for emails"
Me: No! How do I create folders in Gmail??
Gemini: "Email folders are a great way to sort and organize your emails into easily searchable categories."
Me: Never mind. Thanks for nothing.
Gemini:
I saw a Copilot prompt in MS PowerPoint today - top left corner of EVERY SINGLE SLIDE - and I had a quiet fit in my cubicle. Welcome to hell.
Ah yes, the slop button. Truly the pinnacle of productivity.
Despite have AI off as much as possible within our Google Workspace at work, today all of my coworkers have received multiple ads / prompts by Google to use Gemini. In Gmail, in Google Meet, and more. Our policies don't allow us to use it so this is just ridiculous.
They are billing your company for it as well
No, it's for free bro. Google promised!
I replaced gmail with fairemail for similar reasons. I can't stand their interface, designed to maximise clicks on the wrong locations.
Main problem is that now google requires developers of email clients to give $4000 in annual fees (level 3? or level 2 for just $500 is enough?) at their friends at KPMG to do yearly audits of the code, so they will kill most alternatives in few years now that oauth is mandatory
I used to use FairEmail, and IMO it's one of the best email clients available on any platform, but it started acting weird as my account got larger. Taking forever to sync, not sending emails (just keeping them in the outbox), etc. I switched to K9 Mail, which has now become Thunderbird for Android.
Main problem is that now google requires developers of email clients to give $4000 in annual fees (level 3? or level 2 for just $500 is enough?) at their friends at KPMG to do yearly audits of the code
On one hand, I think audits are a reasonable idea. Some of the most sensitive data is in people's emails, and most accounts can have their passwords reset via email. You really wouldn't want malicious code touching that stuff. On the other hand, that's definitely a large expense for an open source project :/
I'm glad some providers are moving towards OAuth or OIDC for logging in to email. Regular auth is very outdated and doesn't support two-factor auth. It'll just take a while to get there.
for FOSS projects, google itself could sponsor the certification, if they really cared about security and not just closing the garden. The code is public and they could definitely write automated tests to check all they need to check, and at every single commit, and not just yearly, done in secret by some auditor.
For google drive integration, i saw that most devs are just removing support for it because doesn't make sense to pay $500 yearly to support it when there's a million of better alternatives
Main problem is that now google requires developers of email clients to give $4000 in annual fees
Does this mean K9 will have to pay Google to support adding gmail accounts?
Need to pay an auditor to check the code https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/13465431?hl=en
While we are talking about shit that Google pulls that drives us crazy can we talk about the pop-up asking me if I know about driving mode EVERY SINGLE TIME I LAUNCH MAPS FROM MY CAR.
I fuckin know about it Google. I have said yes every single goddamn time. Stop fuckin asking me.
But how much do you really know about Driving Mode?
I know enough to drive my car into Google headquarters soon.
For legal reasons that is a joke and I have no intentions of driving my vehicle into the Google buildings.
You can disable it entirely... I don't remember how though
I disabled it from my settings. It comes back.
Apparently they can't roll out Gemini to my phone because I never gave them my birthday. It's a really old account and they've been sending me notifications to add my birthday for years.
It's for the best, I used to ask Google assistant for alarms and basic searches sometimes, Gemini gives excruciatingly long responses that won't shut up and recently started responding with things from my past emails assumingly from the Gmail account needed to set up the phone. So now I don't have Google assistant, and will no longer search anything with Gemini out of principle. Need a new phone OS it appears
I accidentally triggered Gemini while taking a close-up photo of something in my hand. It threw up a nearly full-screen "how can I help?" message. I muttered "fuck off", and the message now read, "I'm sorry you feel that way..." Oh my god no. NO. Gemini now disabled.
If you are willing to forego Google Pay, I strongly recommend GrapheneOS.
I'm in the same boat. Keep getting android popups like IMPORTANT ACCOUNT NOTIFICATION YOU HAVE TO ADD YOUR BIRTHDAY no I don't fuck you swipe away.
It must be infuriating to work for whoever makes these decisions. I don't think I would ever actually email them about anything because there'd be no way I could possibly trust that the reply I get is actually something they wrote
move
Gemini is completely unusable... So many questions are redirected to what they want me to ask, and not to an answer for what I asked. I wouldn't be against this if I could turn it off and if it actually added any value.
Agree this is shit UX but...
How am I just now discovering you can do the swipe to change accounts
Yeah I used to go in the menu and click the other accounts one at a time until a friend showed me. Its this and removing the youtube click to add to queue popup that drive me bananas. They both worked so well why would you change it?
I did not know you could do that... It's a great usability feature, and they probably ditched it because nobody uses it, because nobody knows about it, because they've done precisely nothing to help people find it
Well, it's still working on mine for personal email, I hope they don't kill it off entirely, but I've lost hope googie will ever stop destroying good user experiences in favor of shittier ones that have less functionality (I'm still pissed about Inbox and Play Music)
Same with the open tab number/button in Firefox mobile (and its derivatives). Swipe left/right on that button.
It's on my desktop Gmail and I've been having a shitty time trying to disable it and remove it.
Literally asked Gemini how to remove Gemini and it said it did not know, then I called it stupid, and then it apologised and said I can remove Gemini in the Gmail settings, but I couldn't find the option after yelling at it in all caps and it's still there just taunting me
I think it's from "Google Workspaces" that you have to remove it from.
I have it on my phone and occasionally it think I'm asking it to do something like writing an email and then it'll say I have to enable Gemini in Google Worspaces or something.
Idk hope I've provided some info idk
K-9 mail/Thunderbird Mail
for fun ask gemini if water freezes at 20 degrees
Did as asked. Failed to see where the fun is? (I'm not being offensive, I just missed a joke and would like in on it.)
Um, the profile icon is just slightly to the left now. Or did you mean something else?
In my non-enterprise accounts the profile pic is exactly where the Gemini is now. So I flip thru them and it moves back and forth. Just real dumb. They could have added the Gemini button inside the search bar and I could have kept ignoring it.
Ohh. I use a separate phone for work so I didn't notice that. Yeah search bar would've been a better spot for sure.
Gemini? The Teletext-alike web?
Better than when they switched sides in the play store and my thumb couldn't reach the check for updates :(
Weird I don't see this button anywhere in Gmail. Is it on the web interface or like the Android app? I've only checked the Android app but I don't see it
Google workspace/enterprise Gmail app.
"adding a feature" = "forcing"
The profile image is still there, right beside the gemini button, and you can still swipe on it.
Well I didn't ask for this and I pay them for this and multiple accounts. If it wasn't forced there would be a setting to turn it off
Delete your Google account already
Oh, no, the leopard ate your face.
Why are you using Google in the first place, if you don't want things like this?
Cause I live in the real world and my employees aren't rocket scientists
FireFox isn’t any more complicated than Chrome. In fact the user experience is easier and nicer. Alternative email providers aren’t a big mystery either. Maybe don’t underestimate people or put a modicum of effort into switching your company away from big tech platforms that don’t give a shit about you or your employees.
it should be considered harassment to advertise like this
Advertisements should be considered harassment.
We have a law in Mexico that says you can't hang up advertisements outside your shop at kids' eye level. I thought it was neat.
The only ads I get are from temu vaguely aligned with my interests
I do not sell drugs, I'm on the other side of that market
flute kinda looks like a fancy penjamin
I like using shotguns in videogames sometimes. I've only seen a real one a handful of times.
It is
Time to move to something else
Taking a play out of Microsoft's book. Must be desperate.
Proton does something similar in their email client 🤢