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"Google's Gmail: Search and Email Finally Come Tog
Gmail is Googe's new free web-based email service. This is a review of Gmail, which is very interesting to read.
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"Google's Gmail: Search and Email Finally Come Together"
by Merle http://MCPromotionsPress.com
If Google ran the world, my guess is that they'd
do a pretty good job. They seem to be everywhere,
always growing and expanding, coming up with new
ways to be the dominant player in the search
arena.
Google's latest invention (or should I say re-
invention?) is email. Now, I know what you're
thinking: "Big Deal. Free email accounts are
a dime a dozen." While that may be true for
your everyday email providers like Yahoo
and Hotmail, it's definitely not the case
with Google's new Gmail: http://Gmail.Google.com
Gmail is web-based email on steroids. To start
with, you're given over 1,000 MB of storage, which
means you can keep messages for years without
ever hitting your delete key and still have
plenty of room. In fact, Google encourages
you not to delete messages; they would rather
you "archive" them, but we'll get to that in
a minute.
When you send someone an email and he replies
and then you reply, Google calls this a
"conversation." Similar to a "threaded discussion
board," these conversations are grouped together
for easier searching. If you open an email, any
responses to it are "stacked" on top.
Pretty cool!
The contacts from your pre-existing Yahoo,
Outlook or other email accounts can be
imported into Gmaill quite easily.
Now let's talk about that dirty word, "Sp.m."
Gmail has its own built-in filter and includes
a button that enables you to report any junk
mail you didn't request to Google directly.
Because of possible viruses, HTML images are
automatically disabled but can be viewed by
clicking on a separate button.
Also, for this reason .exe files are not allowed
to be sent or received by Gmail account users.
This could pose a problem for marketers who
attach .exe ebooks to to Gmail users.
Unlike other email programs that allow you to
create folders to hold emails you wish to file,
Google uses what is called "labels." One email
conversation can have more then one label attached
to it, making it easy to find when searching on
a specific topic later.
When you're done with a message, clicking on the
"archive" button will take it out of your Inbox
and put it into what Google calls "All Mail."
This is a holding ground for all emails you have
sent or received, so you don't have to delete
them, but it still removes them from your Inbox.
When you need to do a search for a past message,
you would want to click into "All Mail" first.
So what does all this great email search technology
cost? Are you ready? It's free -- but you will be
exposed to text ads from Google's Adsense Program
in the side border of your emails. All messages
are scanned for their main theme and related
text ads are shown within the emails content.
Of course, this has many privacy advocates in
an uproar. But why should it? The messages are
not read by a human; it's all an automated
machine process. The way I see it is, if it
bothers you, don't use it. Gmail is not forcing
itself on anyone and last time I checked it was
still a free country.
Now, before you go rushing over to Google to sign
up I have to tell you this service is still not
available to the public. Sort of like a private
club right now while they're in the testing phase,
you'll have to be "invited" by a current Gmail user
or you can buy your way in. If you do a search on
Ebay you may find an account or two for sale.
There's also a website dedicated to Gmail account
sharing at http://www.GmailSwap.com
Remember, once you get an account, failure to log
in for 9 months or more will cause you to lose
it. Compared to Hotmail's 30 days, this is
something I can live with. Google is also working
on rolling out POP3 support so you can use your
account from within your current email application
and possibly add on an antivirus scanning feature
by licensing an existing virus protection technology.
Anytime a new service or application pops onto
the Net, hacks and software add-ons are never
far behind. Here are some software additions
that will enhance your life as a Gmail user:
1)POP Goes the Gmail: Enables you to read your
Gmail from any POP3 account. Go to
http://www.Jaybe.org
2) Import Your Email: Tool to export your
existing email from your current email client
over to Gmail. http://www.marklyon.org/gmail
3) Gmail Drive: Uses your Gmail account for
additional storage. This software creates a
virtual file system around your email account.
It literally adds another drive onto your
computer. You can drag files or folders and
have them sent and saved to your Gmail account.
Only works with IE 5.0 or higher.
Get it at http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm
4) Hide the Ads: This hack is for the Firefox
Browser and actually hides the text ads that
Gmail displays within each message. For install
info, see...
http://digitalmediaminute.com/article/1063/
5) Icon Generator: Create your own Gmail Icon
http://www.nhacks.com/email/index.php
6) Gmail Notifier: Downloadable software for
Windows 2000 or XP. This icon sits in your
Window tray and alerts you when a new Gmail
message arrives in your in box.
http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/
7) Gmail Trax: Allows you to search your
Gmail account emails from your desktop.
See http://www.tong-web.com/gmail
8) PS Gmail: If you already have a POP
Email account, use this service to check
your Gmail account too. 15 day fully
functional trial- Cost is $7.90
Go to http://windohs.net/psgmail/
So there you have the "skinny" on Google's
new Gmail. The two biggest benefits I can see
are the searching and storage capabilities.
These two factors alone outperform any other web
based email program out there today.
By combining Google's powerful search functions
with email, you'll never again have to say
"Now where did I put that message?"
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