"Gmail" - Google Does Email
Published April 01, 2004
Leave it to Google to have the temerity to rename email in their own image. But maybe it WILL be different enough to warrant the new moniker:
- Amidst rampant media speculation, Google Inc. today announced it is testing a preview release of Gmail — a free search-based webmail service with a storage capacity of up to eight billion bits of information, the equivalent of
500,000 pages of email. Per user.
The inspiration for Gmail came from a Google user complaining about the poor quality of existing email services, recalled Larry Page, Google co-founder and president, Products. "She kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them," Page said. "And when she's not doing that, she has to delete email like crazy to stay under the obligatory four megabyte limit. So she asked, 'Can't you people fix this?'"
The idea that there could be a better way to handle email caught the attention of a Google engineer who thought it might be a good "20 percent time" project. (Google requires engineers to spend a day a week on projects that interest them, unrelated to their day jobs). Millions of M&Ms later, Gmail was born.
"If a Google user has a problem with email, well, so do we," said Google co-founder and president of technology, Sergey Brin. "And while developing Gmail was a bit more complicated than we anticipated, we're pleased to be able to offer it to the user who asked for it."
Added Page, "Gmail solves all of my communication needs. It's fast and easy and has all the storage I need. And I can use it from anywhere. I love it!"
Today, a handful of users will begin testing the preview version of Gmail. Unlike other free webmail services, Gmail is built on the idea that users should never have to file or delete a message, or struggle to find an email they've sent or received. Key features of Gmail include:
Search: Built on Google search technology, Gmail enables people to quickly search every email they've ever sent or received. Using keywords or advanced search features, Gmail users can find what they need, when they need it. Storage: Google believes people should be able to hold onto their mail forever. That's why Gmail comes with 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of free storage — more than 100 times what most other free webmail services offer.
Speed: Gmail makes using email faster and more efficient by eliminating the need to file messages into folders, and by automatically organizing individual emails into meaningful "conversations" that show messages in the context of all the replies sent in response to them. And it turns annoying spam e-mail messages into the equivalent of canned meat.
According to Page and Brin, Google will make the preview test version of Gmail available to a small number of email aficionados. With luck, Gmail will prove popular to them — and to the original user who sparked the idea.
More recent Google news here.
- "Gmail" - Google Does Email
- Published: April 01, 2004
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- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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you are welcome, David!
Forgot to mention, since Google appeared, they have already begun to change the vocabulary of the Internet. Now we often hear people who need information say things like, "I need to Google it."
The beauty of their plan to call their service "Gmail" is that it's far easier to say than "Google Mail," or "Google Email," and it makes their product instantly distinctive from every other product currently on the market.
David
"click...click...click...click....click..."
that's the sound of all the wheels spinning up in redmond due to this announcement.
I'd feel better about this announcement if it wasn't made on April 1.
that's the sound of all the wheels spinning up in redmond due to this announcement.
LOL - I bet that you are right Mark. Good call.
David
Good point Bruce! The announcement was actually made yesterday.
If the wheels on my car made a clicking sound when they turned, I'd get that thing to a mechanic, pronto.
it's the baseball cards
man, you must need big-ass clothespins to get 'em to stay on a car!
OK - I don't know about the GMail, but this Google job posting qualifies for April 1
http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
Maybe it was Mar 31 here in the states, but I bet it was April 1 in Greenwich.
Read the press release, and note the date.
Ah well, never mind. I guess sometimes a cigar (or a dateline) really is just a cigar.
I was going to blog this topic today, Phillip. I didn't because I wanted more information. The problem with any non-contractual service claiming it will stick around is the owner can end it, or change its terms, anytime it wants to. Furthermore, since the ISP or portal owns SMTP email (because it owns the servers) not just months, but years, of email could disappear at the flick of a couple keys. I've written Google about this, but am not holding my breath in regard to getting an answer.
If Gmail works, great. But, we would be wise not to become reliant on even a large, 'into perpetuity,' email service. (Those of us who remember the good old days of Yahoo may recall it made a similar promise. . .until mail accounts started disappearing.) I also wonder how long Gmail would really remain free.
I would be interested any hearing from any Beta users of Gmail around here.
Oops! Eric wrote this entry, not Phillip. They are starting to look alike-:).
I really should just put a big post-it up for April 1, saying, "don't even bother turning on your computers today".
But I don't and spend all of the day sorting the chaff out of the torrent of bullshit (and yes, I know what chaff means).
Mac Diva - Gmail is going to have a good chance at remaining free because Google plans to finance it by delivering targeted ads (via adsense). Adsense affiliates received an email from Google today saying that their adsense algos have gotten "smarter" so the payouts should be increasing.
I checked a site of ours where we are using Adsense and indeed the numbers today are up considerably from the average.
If this is not an April Fool's joke, which is looking less and less likely, they have very bad business sense.
Agentsmith - actually, assuming it is indeed real, then I think it's a stroke of genius marketing. It's just beta software, not even an official release and they only invited like 1000 people or so to use it.
They are getting people to talk about it all over the web, and that will pay dividends when they do open it up for more extensive testing.
I don't know any company who sells software who wouldn't love to have this type of FREE media exposure -- even if it is client confusion over it being an April Fool's joke.
Somehting to think about - every message is going to be scanned:
Personally, I'll stick with my current service - I don't need any more ads in my mail.
'New Gmail service scans messages and attaches targeted ads to them, raising privacy fears.
'Privacy advocates are concerned that there's one big flaw with Google Inc.'s free e-mail service: The company plans to read the messages.
'"There will undoubtedly be some folks that will see this and freak out," said Ray Everett-Church, chief privacy officer for TurnTide Inc.
Why do you have MichaeMoore on your Entertainmet every day?Please give me a break!
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/14293)
I've got to say, given the quality of their work with Google, I'm very psyched about the prospect of having a Gmail account with them. THANK YOU Eric for bringing this to our attention!
David