Hey DN! Missive designer here! We just launched the latest version that merges both email and chat threads in a single interface.

Mixing both leads to a better asynchronous workflow and makes it a lot easier to manage all sorts of work-related tasks.

I use it for general team chat, scoped conversations (ex: “New homepage design” with inspiration and ideas), personal notes and reminders and of course to manage work emails with our team (support requests, everyday management, etc).

You can try it free with your team: Download the OSX app or Signup online

Fun fact: here's a before/after screenshot of the first ever mockup in early 2014 and the actual state (god that first one was bad):Fullview

Your tool is reminding me of Inbox by Zendesk https://www.zendesk.com/inbox

How do you think you compare?

WTF. Every time a new email app comes out, I check it out to see if it launched with IMAP support. Then I see the Google logo. Good grief.

Is my chat history stored anywhere other than my local machine? Do Missive servers keep that kind of stuff on their own servers?

It's an interesting idea in theory, but I agree with Jeff that a chat can get out of hand quickly and if anything make the whole conversation even harder to manage.

There's also the fact that the person you want to have a conversation with (so you'd want an instant chat not emails), may not be available or at their computer, so it's usually easier to call/slack/whatsapp/text/whatever.

The design doesn't help either, since you essentially just frankensteined a chat interface with an email interface, making it the more complicated.