| Author |
Google Gets the Message,Launches Gmail |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
taken from this google announcement
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 2004
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.
Those interested in learning more about Gmail can visit http://gmail.google.com
| |
|
georgejason
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
Posts: 63
From: Chennai, India
PM |
@masseur
thanks for the info. I found it very useful to know that google was doin somethin like this.
Begin at the beginning and end at the end.
For Indians
support and join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/se_india/ |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
I just wonder how MSN will react with their hotmail being limited to 2mb and having to pay if you want more.
I know where I am going... this sounds amazing! as long as they have some spam protection etc
|
BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
PM, WWW
|
Thx @masseur great news! So we may hope for gm instead of pm in the next future!
This message was posted from a R520 |
BOSSHOGG
Joined: Dec 19, 2002
Posts: > 500
PM |
*cough*april....*splutter*fools... |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
well thats what I thought at first but it was announced yesterday so I'm not so sure!
|
*Jojo*
Joined: Oct 15, 2003
Posts: > 500
PM |
So goes with Yahoo. Space limitation though varies, sometimes 4 if you're lucky you'll get 6 MB of storage - for FREE . . . Much better than MSN's - Hotmail - 2MB of space.
[ This Message was edited by: jojo51069 on 2004-04-01 12:44 ] |
BOSSHOGG
Joined: Dec 19, 2002
Posts: > 500
PM |
1 gig of email free! I smell a rat, guess we'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out. They'll send out april fool emails then if it is :-D be sure to tell me, I Didn't subscribe for info.
This message was posted from a T300 |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
its possible but I first heard it on capital radio this morning and its on many news sites, but I guess many get their news from the same sources. like you said, we'll see 
|
BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
PM, WWW
|
I dont think its a joke. On this way the star trek news by @masseur could be fake too. Not to forget the partner search feature in the fone.
This message was posted from a R520 |
BOSSHOGG
Joined: Dec 19, 2002
Posts: > 500
PM |
Nah that communicator thing is legit. Just repeat 1 gigabyte of FREE email storage to yourself a few times. It has to be an april fools. The biggest one I've seen too, it'll give google a column in most papers and possibly a bit in a few news programs worldwide tomorrow.
This message was posted from a T300 |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
well I am pleased to say that CNN mentioned the Gmail story today and they confirmed that they spoke to google respresentatives who confirmed it was not an april fools day hoax!
indeed there is a BBC article about it today
|
BOSSHOGG
Joined: Dec 19, 2002
Posts: > 500
PM |
Nice, very nice. I saw a bit on bbc ceefax as well. That's a whole lot of free space.
This message was posted from a T300 |
Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
PM |
I read a CNN article too. And as i recall there was something dodgy about it. Something to do with EU rules about privacy protection.
I'll search a bit...
[EDIT]
Found it here
Transcription
Google's 'Gmail' under fire
Tuesday, April 6, 2004 Posted: 8:09 AM EDT (1209 GMT)
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Search engine Google's new free e-mail service, "Gmail," is under fire from privacy groups even before it has been officially launched.
One campaign group, Privacy International, says Gmail violates European privacy laws because it stores messages on its system long after users have deleted them from their mailbox.
The group, which has offices in Britain and the United States, also opposes Google's plans to scan users' e-mail in order to paste appropriate advertising into messages.
"This is not just 'buyer beware.' Consumers should be aware that there's a vast violation of European law occurring here," Reuters quoted Simon Davies, director of citizens' group Privacy International, as saying.
Europe's privacy protection laws are much stricter than those in the United States, where Google is based. European consumers, for example, have the right to retain control over their communications.
"If a person deletes an e-mail, he should be confident that e-mail is actually deleted," Maurice Westerling, co-founder of Bits of Freedom, another privacy interest group, based in the Netherlands, told Reuters.
"Besides, Google cannot just open e-mails. Communication in Europe has a very high degree of protection."
As part of its service, Gmail would include a built-in search function that will let people search every e-mail they've ever sent or received.
According to company executives, users will be able to type in keywords to sort e-mails or find old missives.
Google, which is the world's most popular search engine and is launching Gmail to compete against rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft, argues e-mails will remain private because it will assign computers, not people, to scan content.
"No humans read your e-mail to target the ads," it said on its Web site.
It will come with one gigabyte of free storage -- more than 100 times what some popular rivals offer and enough to hold 500,000 pages of e-mail.
Analysts have said that Google -- whose technology is behind nearly four out of every five Web searches -- could shake up the free e-mail market.
Yahoo! dominates the e-mail niche, with 52.6 million unique users per month in the United States, according to a February survey by online research firm comScore Media Metrix.
Microsoft's Hotmail is next, with 45.4 million users. AOL has 40.2 million paying users.
Rivals have kept stripped versions of e-mail free and asked users to pay annual fees up to $30 or more for extra storage and spam protection
_________________
Check these coordinates 39°04'51''N/-9°15'14''W here.
[ This Message was edited by: Krubach on 2004-04-08 11:48 ] |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
from this BBC artcle
Google's Gmail sparks privacy row
Internet search engine Google's plans for a free email service have come under fire from privacy campaigners.
Google is devising Gmail as a rival to Microsoft's Hotmail and to Yahoo!
Privacy campaigners have objected to plans to send users adverts linked to the content of messages, and to the permanent storage of email.
Campaign group Privacy International has filed a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner, Reuters news agency reported.
The Information Commissioner's job is to make sure organisations comply with a web of laws safeguarding privacy and freedom of information.
Online snooping?
Privacy International objects to Google's plans to send users links to advertising based on a computer scan of their correspondence, and presumed interests.
At present, users of Google's internet search engine receive advertisements for commercial sites linked to their search topic arranged down the right-hand side of their screens.
Gmail would use similar technology to scan emails and offer advertisements.
Google says the content of users' email would remain private because the process would be fully automated.
"No humans read your emails to target the ads," Google's web site says.
But Simon Davies, director of Privacy International has called the proposed system "a vast violation of European law".
Too much of a good thing?
Gmail's proposed message storage systems are also angering privacy campaigners.
Google has promoted free storage for each user of the equivalent of 500,000 pages of email among Gmail's benefits.
Google says this will enable users to retrieve vast amounts of old emails, and that it will back this up with superior spam filtering.
However, its terms of use acknowledge that "residual copies of email may remain on our systems, even after you have deleted them from your mailbox or after the termination of your account".
"If a person deletes an email, he should be confident that email is actually deleted," Bits of Freedom founder Maurice Westerling said.
Google has a commanding lead in the global internet search engine market, although its market share has shrunk sharply during the past month after Yahoo stopped using Google technology to power its searches.
Google is privately-owned, but expected to float on the stock market later this year, a deal that could value Google at up to $25bn (£14.7bn) - slightly more than listed online retailer Amazon.
The California-based company was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
| |
|
Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
|
Posted: 2004-04-01 08:52
