Why using GMail? Convince me!

March 20, 2005
GMail Logo

Everybody is talking about Google's GMail service at the moment. Since the beginning, it is limited to users which are taking part in the beta test phase. However, these users have had and still have the possibility to send invitations to friends, which enables them to create an own GMail account. For a few weeks now, Google increased the amount of these invitations up to 50 per user. This has started a real run: People are going to offer their invitations also to others who are just interested in it. You can find these offers on many blogs including the actual number of invitations left.

Why are people so crazy for such an email account? I still didn't get the point yet. What are those special features other web-based email provides, such as GMX or Yahoo, do not have? Ok, one mighty feature is Google's brilliant indexing and thus search facilities. However, mail clients like Opera's M2 and the upcoming Mail 2.0 from Apple (to be released in Mac OS 10.4 - alias Tiger) offer this so called "Search, don't sort" feature as well. The 1000 MB mail storage cannot really be that argument to have a GMail account. GMX and I think also Yahoo offer this for free, too. Apart from that, my Powerbook's hard disk is even larger. ;-)

Another thing, at least for me, is that I already have my own domain with my own mail address. And I am sure, many of you have this too. So why would I still need an GMail account? To be honest, 1000 MB is far too less if I would like to store all my mails with such an account. And I am not a big fan of having my mails distributed over several locations as long as these locations cannot be accessed as one logical one. Using the POP3 facilities of GMail and storing my mails locally on my computer, however, makes the only useful feature of GMail, the powerful searching, pointless.

So guys and girls, if you think I still miss one point, then let me know and convince me why it would be advantageous having a GMail account.

Of course, I know there are many of you who are going to switch or have already switched from other web mail providers. And I also can understand this very well. However, I am still looking for that eye-catcher, which would be the trigger for me and blokes being in the same situation as me to using GMail!

This entry was posted at March 20, 2005 20:11 (UTC) from London, UK.

Comments

  1. kines Says:
    March 21, 2005 10:37 AM

    It's brilliantly fast: thats all that matters to me.

  1. deek deekster Says:
    March 21, 2005 05:09 PM

    clever marketing tho init? they call it "viral"

    yours virally

    D.

  1. theMike Says:
    March 21, 2005 05:13 PM

    Three points have gotten me to actually switch from using my own domain's email to gmail.
    1. I can get my gmail anywhere, whether I'm at work, school, home, a friends, the library, a kiosk in the mall, etc.
    2. The way it handles replies to emails or emails that have the same subject to look like a threaded conversation, instead of individual emails is brilliant.
    3. I can create email addresses on the fly, such as myemailaddress+spam@gmail.com when I register for things so that I can see what services my email comes from and where I get spam from. If I start receiving a bit of spam from that service, I can then filter any emails going to that email address to go straight to the trash.

  1. Daniel Says:
    March 21, 2005 06:34 PM

    @theMike:

    I can access my mail from my own domain everywhere too. My provider offers a good webmail interface. Regarding the replies handling: well, Apple's Mail can do this quite well as well. And third: I can setup many new mail addresses with my provider as well and it also offers me a spam protection filter.

    So, I am still not convinced. :-) Especially the 1GB limit is one of the big things which does not convince me.

    Does anybody of you know, if you can "import" or upload existing mails? And does it allow to use another Replay and From address than the GMail one?

  1. 46halbe Says:
    March 21, 2005 08:11 PM

    Did you ever ask yourself what purpose is behind Gmail and its invitations? The Orkut-like idea of networking, for sure. All your data (even deleted mails) will be stored in huge databases. They work with data mining and contextual keyword and pattern matching. And all this with a privacy policy that can only be called ridiculous. Read the terms of use and their privacy page..

    No, I surely won't try to convince you to use Gmail. Maybe I would if I knew you use encryption like PGP, GnuPG or Ciphire.

  1. Daniel Says:
    March 21, 2005 09:16 PM

    You're right in your concerns regarding data mining etc. I am aware of these techniques but I didn't want to go into that depth here ;-)

    And I am using GnuPG for mails, which need to be secure. It would be a big overhead to use it for all your mails.

  1. Todd Says:
    March 22, 2005 01:06 AM

    I own my own domain and simply have it redirected to my GMail account - or whichever account I was using prior. It is a great way to maintain your same address while allowing mobility between providers if need be. I can change it anytime I wish. GMail's indexing is monumentally better for filing and searching, so much so that I've even tried Yahoo! again and went right back to GMail. When I reach 100 Mb or so, I simply POP my mail and store it on CD. removing all messages from the server. Voila. If you're worried about data mining from Google, you may as well not even be on the 'net as far as I'm concerned.

  1. Jack Says:
    March 22, 2005 02:29 PM

    The spam filters are pretty nice. Furthermore, when you use GMail with POP, you have the option to have the sent mail stored on the web server which means you can access it later from anywhere. That's also nice.

  1. CyouX Says:
    March 23, 2005 08:28 PM

    Some arguments but in french
    http://cyouss.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/02/07/le_cas_gmail_1_3.html
    Thank for GeoURL

  1. Tommy Says:
    March 27, 2005 12:58 AM

    For me it is the interface and the ability to label messages. I like Gmail's interface more then Yahoo!, which I have used for years and years. It is simple and clean (yes I am a Mac user).

    I also like that I can create labels and tag messages. I use my account like a filing cabient. It might not be for everyone.