:: theMediaman journal ::

:: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 ::

Well, I'm part of a select few who get to test-drive the new Gmail. The service is currently by "Invite Only", but a number of Blogger users were allowed into the Beta testing.

I didn't really have any intention of starting a Gmail account, but I figured it would be best to squat on theMediaman(at)gmail.com

Once I logged in, I found a helluva great interface. The most notable difference from other web-based email programs being the speed in which the pages load. Now, part of that may be the fact that there are relatively few users accessing the Gmail servers at any given time. However, a paired down interface certainly helps! Most web sites have been starting to leave behind even the 56k crowd in favour of bandwidth-intensive rich media only.

I remember when Alta Vista came out with Raging.com... no portal crap, just a search engine. I didn't want to know who's IPO broke records today or who won some basketball game in Atlanta, I just wanted to search.

That's the main reason I started using Google - the simple interface. I came for the quick-loading webpages, I stayed for the relevant results (you can quote me ,^_- ). The same strategy really works in the Webmail department. But don't misinterpret me by thinking Gmail's service is without bells & whistles.

One of my favourite features about Gmail is the message threading. For example: I send an email from Gmail to Andrew. He replies from outside Gmail. When I open and read his email, then my quoted text at the bottom of his email is hidden. With one click on "- Show quoted text -", the whole email expands to show the otherwise irrelevent information.

On top of that, the email that I sent to Andrew, is no less than one click away. If this game of email-tag goes back and forth several times, all of my sent and received emails are stacked one on top of another with easy, one-click access.

There's also a quick reply text field. I just punch in my response and send the email. Two steps. If I want something more complicated, I can click on another link, and another patch of hidden fields expands and I can forward, CC, change the Subject, whatever.

I've tested sending a large file to my Gmail account, and the bounced reply was that I couldn't send anything much over 10 MB in size. However, that still provides ample space to use Gmail as an alternative when transferring files from one location to another instead of FTPing or burning a CD.

Because Google is now directly competing with a significant Microsoft branch (Hotmail), suddenly all the bought-out politicians in the US are trying to put a stop to Gmail. One of the funniest arguements I saw was that Gmail would 'read your emails and provide appropriate ads to the content within'. Anyone who seriously thought that they hire dolts to read each and every email that comes through in order to customize the advertising, don't deserve to be laying down laws regarding technology.

While I don't want to cite any specific examples, I have noticed that Hotmail tailors whatever ads are currently showing to the specific text in your emails as well. Take a look the next time you're logged on... I think you'll see what I mean.

Frankly, I feel that Google's customized small column of ads on each page of my emails is far less obtrusive to my web surfing experience than Hotmail/MSN's extensive pop-up and pop-under collection... including a pop-up that I frequently get advertising MSN itself! Google has a strict policy against pop-ups, and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon.

The wierdest thing about Gmail is how many people want one! Naturally there's a need to squat on the best email addresses. But because of the nature of getting an account, it's a matter of supply & demand. Tell people they can't have something, and they'll want it!

Right now, you have to receive an invitation to get a Gmail account. There are a couple ways for that to happen, but the most common is for you to know someone who has a Gmail account. Every so often, that person will get an email from Gmail stating that they can invite up to three friends. What can you do with these invitations?... Well, Andrew's already claimed one (if I ever get the opportunity). Other options include swapping an invite for interesting stuffs, or selling on eBay. Neither of these methods really work very well anymore, since there are so many invites bouncing around that a Gmail invite can't even get a bid on eBay for 99 cents.

However, there have been some truly weird swaps. Does anyone really want to give up a valuable Invite to see some Trekkie act out ANY Star Trek:TNG ep?

:: Stephen 1:30 PM [+] ::

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