When it arrived yesterday, Gmail Priority Inbox looked a little familiar to veteran Microsoft watchers. A long term project created by Microsoft Research seems to have been tinkering with the same approach to organising emails and what’s more it has the patents to prove it…
Todd Bishop of Tech Flash noticed the similarities between Gmail Priority Inbox and a project from Microsoft Research called Priorities. The latter also organises email messages to determine their importance, ranking them and even texting you when a message is particularly urgent.
While Gmail Priority Inbox is rolling out now, Microsoft hasn’t done much to push Priorities out into the world. Versions of the tech have been used internally at Microsoft since the late-90s but only appeared publicly in Outlook Mobile Manager, a limited release from Microsoft Research.
Hotmail has recently added features which make it easier to categorise messages and keep your inbox tidy. Hopefully, the arrival of Gmail Priority Inbox will make Microsoft look again at Priorities. Especially as it’s got a clutch of patents relating to the algorithms, including the self-explanatory “Use a bulk-email filter within a system for classifying messages for urgency or importance”.
Let’s hope Microsoft doesn’t decide to use them to go after Gmail Priority Inbox. After all, lots of people are still waiting for it and that curious Ragtime bug.
Out now | £free | Gmail (via Tech Flash)
