For the near future, though, it seems like the trade-off is going to be worth it. Web email, for example, has so many advantages that I, for one, can’t imagine going back to running client software. But Gmail is going to keep changing, and some of that change is inevitably going to affect my workflow. The only thing to do in this situation is to adapt. To think of the workflow not as static, but as a malleable and constantly changing system. To meet every update with a willingness to refine or even radically change the way we do things, instead of obstinate indignation and victimhood. To form a meta-workflow that incorporates change as a constant. It’s the only way to stay sane in this brave new world in which more and more of our lives consist in ephemeral, increasingly amorphous software.
In Defense of the New Gmail - Joe Moon - Technology - The Atlantic. Ah yes, the “I for one welcome our new insect overlords” response. Two key unstated assumptions here: first, that Google is going to do whatever it wants to do and any responses from users are pointless; and second, that there are no legitimate complaints, only “obstinate indignation and victimhood” (by which I think he means claims of victimhood). The first unstated assumption may well be right; the second is garbage.