Ask HN: Can’t we define a new e-mail standard with Facebook’s features?
Features like groups, events, pinwalls, photo albums, likes, friends/contacts but also collaborative editing, versioning, chatting channels and voting come to mind.
I’m wondering what are the hurdles to define such an "e-mail 2.0" standard.
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* quote levels increasing or not
* how to format the date of the previous message
* whether or not you attach the original files when replying
* how to format the headers signatures of the emails
* where attachments are, i.e. inline or as an extra
* read receipts
on and on.
Events: Many corporate e-mail systems (e.g., Outlook) already have a meeting invitation function (accept, reject, reschedule, see people's free time slots, etc.).
Pinwalls, photo albums, likes, friends: If I really wanted those integrated into my e-mail workflow, I'd be a Facebook user. Why should they be part of regular e-mail?
Once you've added all those features, don't you really have a Facebook clone rather than an e-mail system?