What do you think about GMail?

[George]

Are you just itching to switch? Google plans to offer 1GB of storage for all of it's members for FREE. People are flocking to be the first in line for the new service and Yahoo "coincidentally" upped their storage in response. Google has already started sending out invites to people that meet certain criteria. I.E. people that blog a lot and use other google related services. The new service is so popular and in-demand that it sparked a website (www.gmailswap.com (http://www.gmailswap.com)) that allows members to trade nearly anything for an invite to try GMail. The things that are beign swapped on that website are becoming more and more bizzarre. Someone even accepted a pair of underwear for an invite!

Part of the craze is that not only do people want that gigabyte which pretty much ensures you won't have to delete a single piece of mail for at least a year, but people want to be first in line for the newest internet fad of course.. get their name before some email name squatter snatches it up!

But what do you think? Can Google sustain this incredible level of service or is this just a ploy to gain members so that they can pull a hotmail/Yahoo and drop the limit slowly over time and start charging for the extra storage?

What about it's success? Do you think this business model will fly or will teh costs involved sink this ship before it sails?

I gotta tell ya I hate to admit it but I've got a name myself that I can't wait to try and register. :rolleyes: :D

[Entropy3XD]

I thought I had heard somewhere that Google was going to be doing some kind of tracking on those email users for marketing purposes? Am I wrong? If they are, their costs are probably covered.

[vtjoe]

Originally posted by Entropy3XD@Jun 1 2004, 03:09 PM
I thought I had heard somewhere that Google was going to be doing some kind of tracking on those email users for marketing purposes? Am I wrong? If they are, their costs are probably covered.
I have gmail account :D - however I haven't had the chance to invite anybody.


This is from the gmail website:

About Ads & Related Information
You've reached this page because you chose to read more about ads and related pages delivered by Google. Ads in Gmail are placed in the same way that ads are placed alongside Google search results and, through the Google AdSense program, on content pages across the web.

Related information provides relevant information from sites in Google's extensive index of web pages.

Gmail is a technology-based program. Advertising and related information are shown using a completely automated process. Ads are selected for relevance and served by Google computers using the same contextual advertising technology that powers our AdSense program. This technology enables Google to effectively target dynamically changing content, such as email, or news stories.

No humans will read the content of your email in order to target such advertisements or related information. Because the ads and Related Pages are matched to information that is of interest to you, we hope you'll find them relevant and useful.

Your Privacy

Google does not and will never rent, sell or share information that personally identifies you for marketing purposes without your express permission. No email content or other personally identifiable information will be provided to advertisers.

Privacy is an issue we take very seriously. Only ads classified as Family-Safe are distributed through our content network and to your Gmail inbox. For example, Google would block certain ads from running next to an email about catastrophic news.

If you'd like to know more about how Google handles your Gmail information, please read our Gmail Privacy Policy

[Entropy3XD]

Thanks vtjoe. I guess they make the money from the advertising.

[George]

vtjoe,

When is their scheduled date to release it to the masses?

[vtjoe]

Google is not saying.

[MarvinK]

How about your quick opinion on the service? Is it worth the hype?

[vtjoe]

Originally posted by MarvinK@Jun 2 2004, 07:06 AM
How about your quick opinion on the service? Is it worth the hype?
Two thumbs up! I love having all that space (for free) - and knowing someone is reading my e-mail makes me feel important! ;) It is worth a solid $8 a month**.

The way the e-mails get organized is very nice. It seems that the search engine is powerful.

The advertisement is Google style - just some text on the side. Much better than being spammed or pop up ads. I'm a devout Christian and the content has not been objectionable.

For example, I had the word videoconferencing in an e-mail, and the following adds appeared on the right hand side.

Sponsored Links

Bell Video Conferencing
Easy to Use Webcast Video Services
Fast Up & Downloands, Live Sharing
www.bell.ca/conferencing

Videoconference Rooms
Turn your conference room into
a profit center. Let us help.
www.mivnet.com/

Videoconferencing Vendors
Detailed listings for video, audio, and
Web conferencing providers.
http://ConferZone.com




**If you don't like advertisements you can pay $8 a month for a service like Brinkster.
www.brinkster.com (http://www.brinkster.com/)
For $8 a month, you can get a gig of space from Brinkster - no advertisements web based e-mail. You can use all the space for e-mail or upload and download files and create a web page - plus they support ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, MySQL, Access, etc,

[George]

Hmm..

Hey if anyone gets an email with videoconferencing or a related keyword like Polycom, ISDN, etc. somewhere in the body of your email, check in the ads section like vtjoe mentioned above for a link to VTCTalk.com. The headline should say Videoconferencing Help.

BUT DON'T CLICK ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It costs us $$ when you do. I just wanna know if they are showing our ads in email too.