New Gmail & Facebook looks

Gmail and Facebook both are on an aggressive drive to change their look and enforce this new look for all the users. Facebook with it’s timeline and Gmail with it’s, well, weird new look. Both of them recently also had some updates to their privacy policy. And just like most users, even I chose to ignore reading the new policy. The same thing happens when im installing some software or registering at some website. I always end up clicking “I agree” button.

There are apps being circulated that help users with Timeline on their Facebook profile to revert to the old look. But many of these either end up changing the entire look and readjusting the whole display very similar to the old look, or end up not working at all. When I tried to help a colleague figure out how to revert to the old look, I read a bunch of pages on the net where people discussed that the Timeline and Gmail’s new will be implemented for everyone. Just like a compulsory homework or a uniform that you need to follow when you are a kid. In case someone knows how to fix this ‘BUG’ that might force us to switch to the new looks, lemme know, will you.

However, I still have not figured out why users are being forced to switch to the new look for both Gmail & Facebook. Can’t we have the option of retaining the old look? Occasionally users who have accepted the new look for Gmail, get the option “Temporarily revert to the old look”. Something that inherently tells you, “Dude, enjoy the old look while you can, cause when we force you all to switch, there aint one thing you can do”. This message seems so wicked if I may say. Just imagine, a devil rubbing its palms, telling you to enjoy the last few minutes of something good, and hten it will be taken away. Being the administrators, they can easily snatch the sole decent internet based thing that we are hanging on to.

I am not getting “Temporarily revert to the old look”. I guess it seems like the life support of old Gmail (and Facebook) enthusiasts has been discontinued. With Facebook, the major concern is “Over-Sharing” of information. One of my friends realized that some random guy was stalking her profile. All this because Timeline made her profile more visible to unknown people. Of course Facebook says that users should have re-tweaked their privacy settings, but hey you can’t blame a user who is taken by Shock & Awe. Lot of settings change, lot of things become really different. A recent survey indicated that majority of people are not liking the new Look on both Gmail & Facebook. What do you have to say Mr Zuckerburg & Mr Page. PS: please do not terminate my Blog page or my email ID.