Once upon a time, circa 2004, word spread that Google was beta-testing a new email platform. If you knew the right person, you could get an invitation to set up a beta Gmail account. A few months later, Gmail launched to the public but by invitation only. And a few years later, anyone could sign up for an account.

It took some time, but wow, was it worth it. Gmail was revolutionary-it transformed the whole email experience with its intuitive interface. For years before this, I had made a valiant effort to organize my Yahoo Mail account in some sort of methodical way, but my inbox was still cluttered with about 1,000 unfiled messages. Then Gmail came along and organized it all for me, with a nifty search bar that found and displayed emails related to whatever I was looking for. Who needed folders and filing anymore?

As the years went on, new social media platforms launched with similar consolidated, scrollable feed-type interfaces, setting yet another high bar for customer expectations around usability. I only wish we could say the same for other technologies.