What do you think of it?
I’ve been scrounging for an invite, but no luck so far. Likely, I’ll only see it after the public launch.
Revtim, do you really feel safe about your email never being deleted…ever? It’s a good deal sure, but I’m kind of uneasy about the whole thing.
I assumed you could delete mail if you wanted to, you just didn’t have to. After all, you don’t have infinite space, you get a gig. With attachments, I would have no trouble going over that, if I let myself. What happens when you reach the limit, the account is dead?
Moderator(s), can you please add the missing ‘A’ from the beginning of the title please?
I don’t have the sources handy, but if you GoogleNews the Gmail, I’m pretty sure you will find many articles that state that the email isn’t deleted. You can delete it from your mailbox, but a copy is retained on their servers for select advertising AFAIK.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39151489,00.htm
“Google has also been attacked for saying that copies of emails could be retained within Gmail even after a user has deletes them. This, though, is unlikely to raise the ire of the authorities as they recognise that it’s often very difficult to truly delete data.”
I couldn’t find anything saying email would be retained for ad purposes, but a lot of references like the above.
I see no reason to trust Google/Gmail on this subject any less than Yahoo or MSN or any other free email provider.
I don’t know, maybe it was one of the Privacy Rights, ACLU stories about Gmail. Still, I’m excited for it.
I just hope they have POP3 access soon. I know they won’t at first, it’s something they’re “thinking about”.
www.spymac.com already gives you 1 gig space free, with POP3 access. Sort of. It’s VERY unreliable, the check via POP3 fails more than it succeeds.
Yes, I’m a beta user.
Yes, you can delete the e-mail. They encourage you not to – but I do it for efficiency reasons (“handle everything once” and discard the irrelevant).
It looks a little different, allowing you to “star” or highlight things. But otherwise it’s like Hotmail used to be before all the utility was hidden under Microsoft advertising.
Best regards,
Mooney252
Any inside info on when the “release” date will be?
Nah, no inside info. Google keeps everything in beta for a long time. Froogle’s still a beta; Google Answers was in beta for more than a year.
With mail, I’d expect it to roll out in a couple of levels, as they manage resources to ensure that mail is fast enough.
Best regards,
Mooney252
Don’t be afraid of the big bad GMail.
I’m also a beta user, and I have to say it’s better than any other web-based service I’ve used.
A very interesting article indeed.
WooHoo! I got me an invite, and I used it this morning.
I like it. The “labels instead of folders” idea is a good idea, I think it will prove to be more useful. It wouldn’t surprise me if other mail providers, at least newly created ones, will adopt it.
I didn’t even notice the ads, but most of my messages don’t seem to be generating any. But some do, and until I started typing this post, I didn’t notice a single one. I had to go back and specifically look for them.
It’s also lightning quick, but of course that will change when it’s open to the general public, I’m sure.
How does one get an invite?
I got mine from a Blogger who was giving them out in exchange for haikus about sandwiches. My masterwork about bologna on toast was judged acceptable.
He’s run out, so I won’t bother giving the link.