Death and taxes could be the most well-known of life’s certainties, however you too can all the time depend on Google to kill off one other service or function. It’s usually one thing fiercely beloved or downright helpful, too. (No, I’m nonetheless not over dropping Google Reader.) And sadly, the Grim Reaper has appeared as soon as once more. This time the scythe is coming for one of many firm’s oldest options—Gmail’s primary HTML view. In January 2024, that straightforward interface heads for the nice past. 

According to The Verge, the approaching demise was introduced quietly in a Google assist web page round mid-September. 

For many, this information might seem to be a no brainer—most individuals are acquainted with the usual view, which is the default if you log into Gmail by means of the net. It’s full featured, with assist for contemporary fonts, a customizable inbox, built-in chat options, wealthy textual content formatting, and extra. Meanwhile, the basic HTML view is precisely as described—it seems like one thing from 2005 and behaves prefer it, too. All you possibly can actually do is learn your e-mail (and on cell internet, you’d higher hope there’s a correctly formatted textual content model, as a result of it doesn’t render fancier codecs effectively).

PCWorld

But that simplicity is what made the fundamental HTML view so good. Because it takes so little information to entry, you could possibly nonetheless entry Gmail with a nasty web connection or whereas on an historical system. Or each. More than one member of the PCWorld workers makes use of the fundamental HTML view—some throughout commerce exhibits or conventions, others wherever native reception is dangerous. Even if service crawls alongside on the equal of 2G or slower speeds, you’re not shut out of your inbox. Starting subsequent 12 months, although, we’re all out of luck.

While this improvement is disappointing, it’s not shocking. Google’s been pushing a number of merchandise and tasks onto the chopping block (and into the graveyard) as of late. Google Domains is gone, as is the Pixel Pass program (a lot to the ire of subscribers who by no means obtained their promised telephone improve). It’s a stark distinction with Microsoft, which not solely offers reprieves to venerable apps once marked for retirement, however decides to soup them up, too.