There have been many discussion threads and online fora on this topic, for example, “The New Gmail Sucks“, “I want to get rid of Gmail’s new look. How do I get the old one back?”, “revert back to old Gmail look”, and similar laments.
Many users have been hitting the Revert button but which Google e-mail removed today thus making its altered appearance the default mode and a non-negotiable option.
Although Google is ‘the’ behemoth straddling our globe and gobbling everything in its path, it is nonetheless risking a backlash by riding roughshod over the wishes of netizens by refusing to acknowledge the torrent of adverse feedback over its Gmail tinkering.
Flashback: Coca-Cola in 1985 — “They didn’t ask the critical question of Coke users: Do you want a new Coke?”
“[O]n April 23, New Coke was launched with fanfare, including prime-time TV ads. Company Chairman Roberto C. Goizueta proclaimed New Coke ‘smoother, rounder yet bolder,’ speaking of it more like a fine wine than a carbonated treat.
“But public reaction was overwhelmingly negative; some people likened the change in Coke to trampling the American flag.”
(Read about the Coke debacle here)
Some products are simply better off in their original form.
One example is the Playstation game Crash Team Racing featuring a pair of sibling bandicoots Crash and Coco, and their animal friends. CTR was fun and quirky when it first came out – years ago – but the upgraded 3D version although visually stunning and more elaborate just did not have the charm of the original.
Another video game Farm Frenzy was addictive in simplicity of purpose. Its later, more complex versions fail to match up.
For those who don’t play games, think Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace. The young Obi-Wan Kenobi says most presciently: “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Compare the ‘prequel’ dud with Star Wars 1977 to get an idea of the sinking feeling I’m trying to describe.
UPDATED (April 24): Screenshot, tweet by designer of the revamped look saying that he is “humbled” by the outrage expressed by the public. So he claims his team is ‘humbled’ yet Gmail takes no notice at all of the deluge of complaints and criticisms. Doesn’t his turn of phrase – “… working hard to make the web a more beautiful place” – in response to unhappy Gmail users remind you of the type of language so loved by our DAPster evangelist Twitter queens? 1.15am
Not that a political context necessarily has to be present in every posting I blog but still … how to bypass the obvious? Nope, DAP 1.0 was neither charming nor fun or quirky. It wasn’t a George Lucas blockbuster winning international fans but at least it was NOT the born again DAPsterism confronting us today.
The Dear Leader Kim Guan Eng incessantly drums his ‘Jom Ubah’ propaganda. Change into what?! Hideous hybrid Hannah?
Helen Ang 
And I thought for sure it was about google
Hahaha. Good onelah!
Semoga kita dapat hidup aman di bumi bertuah ini
I thought this is a strange entry in your site, till the last two para. Hahaha, Hideous Hybrid Hannah, that’s a good one Helen. HHH, wow.
Hideous Hybrid Hannah? Rather rude.
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Sshsn,
Copypasted below are among some of the comments you’d previously left on my blog:
Helen
i thought this is a fresh entry in your site, till the last two para?
so nothing new about the ‘new’ gmail look :)
Not that I liked the original DAP or PAS. But their present morphed-up forms taste more like fusion food. It’s like cendol pulut at Holiday Villa Alor Star: a huge pile of pulut with a few strands of cendol and red-beans and a sprinkling of santan. They could have switched names and nobody would have noticed.
Dapulut or Pasantan