Desicritics Comments on The Logic Behind Gmail

Comment by John1157

Wed, 27 May 2009 21:37:11 EDT

Very nice site!

Comment by John1157

Wed, 27 May 2009 21:35:21 EDT

Very nice site! cheap cialis http://yieapxo.com/qroxrq/4.html

Comment by John1157

Wed, 27 May 2009 21:33:43 EDT

Very nice site! [url=http://yieapxo.com/qroxrq/2.html]cheap cialis[/url]

Comment by Naser

Wed, 10 May 2006 09:45:12 EDT

I don't want to be a wiseguy, but isn't it high time for desicritic to have a redesign? I mean its web 2.0 years man, and I see nothing but old tables and div> tags here and there.

Comment by Steve Smith

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:33:55 EDT

Google sounds like they are being nice offering Gmail and 1GB etc. But just wait 5 years from now when the truth comes out about what they are doing with these personal emails.

Comment by Shravan Sampath

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:59:40 EDT

Thanks Jim, you took the words out of my mouth. Scanning of email is still taking place, and it will still go on. GMail only took it a step further. You are also right. GMail is not a market leader. But I don't think a business has to be a market leader to be successful. Its context specific ads are much more useful than the flashy banner ads, and Im sure (though not verified) that it would be more revenue generating.

Comment by Jim Barr

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:40:41 EDT

Soam Acharya - The privacy issue seems to pop up again and again. Though they are concerns to be understood, I think they are far overblown. To put it into perspective, almost every email service on the planet scans every word and every character of every email that passes through its systems. Why? To try to find viruses and spam. Gmail is really doing nothing more than searching for word patterns and matching them to ad words. And you can bet that Gmail is not the only service that is indexing and statistically aanalyzing email content. [doffs conspiracy theory hat] If one sees this kind of message scanning as a problem, then the best advise is to not use the service. So many condemmed Gmail initially for this without really understanding the facts. As for Yahoo's email, I think it is an excellent service, and like Gmail, will continue to develop into a stronger and more feature-rich service. The important thing is to use what works for YOU, the user. I personally dislike the "flashy" and (in my opinion) intrusive ads that the likes of Yahoo Mail and Hotmail provide. I personally prefer Gmail's unobtrusive, context-relevent ads. Competition among the online email services can only be a good thing for users.

Comment by Soam Acharya

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:26:15 EDT

ZeroMP - Gmail's overall marketshare remains small. Partly this may be because Google has other priorities as well as capacity issues but there may well be other factors (such as privacy concerns) too. It would have been nice to see the author address that issue in this context. As I've mentioned before, I admire Gmail but calling victory here may be premature. Sami - the core of it is indeed based on Oddpost. However, the UI metaphor is more akin to Outlook.

Comment by Pratyush

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:34:04 EDT

Jan Paricka - I am sure you would, if a better service came up eventually. That is the beauty of competition. :)

Comment by ZeroMP

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:36:55 EDT

@ Soam Acharya Actually the media attention to the alleged "invasion of privacy" was mentioned in the article. The idea that Google's ads are a privacy concern has been brought up (and debunked) ad nauseum. Yahoo blows on ice.

Comment by Jan Paricka

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:02:48 EDT

Very good article, man! Well done. PS - I wouldn't sell my gmail account for the Earth!

Comment by IndianArchie

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:15:07 EDT

Hissing Saint: Actually Rediff bumped up its Inbox to 1 GB *after* the arrival of GMail, probably as a response to that service. IndianArchie Musings that Amuse

Comment by The Hissing Saint

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 03:40:21 EDT

I may be wrong here but if I am not mistaken I believe around the same time that Gmail came about Rediff was already offering close to a GB of email storage. Talking about the craze for Gmail, I remember Gmail actually having an auction space on the site itself. Wannabe gmail users could put up stuff (no cash!)they would give in exchange of a gmail invite. And the craziest thing I had seen was a woman offering her panties in exchange for a gmail invite!

Comment by sami

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:20:24 EDT

People who have not liked GMail's interface shouldn't be liking the Yahoo Mail Beta interface too, as they look very similar. isn't it just the oddpost interface with some more improvements?

Comment by Desh

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:41:18 EDT

Upload docs through Gmail... I wonder if any of you have used the gspace thing to store files? Here is my blog on how to do that.. http://www.drishtikone.com/?q=node/1331 you would need to use the firefox browser for that.. but its real cool stuff!

Comment by Zainub

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:19:46 EDT

The archieve feature is unique for Gmail and really was one of the first things that made me fall in love with Gmail. Since then almost everything genuinely good that's happened in my life has been related to my switching from Yahoo (my previous primary Email) to G-mail, I call this G-luck. :)

Comment by Angshuman

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:29:25 EDT

Very nice piece; it told a simple story that needed to be told. To me the big winner is: Gmail wins hands down in group discussions.

Comment by Soam Acharya

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:14:39 EDT

Some points: * You ignore the privacy concerns raised by Gmail when it first came out. The notion of Google reading personal e-mail to serve up relevant ads raised a lot of issues. While it may be ok with some folks, others definitely view it with concern. * Gmail's UI is an acquired taste. I've known folks who won't use it because of that reason. * You pass over Yahoo's attempts to catch up whereas Yahoo's new beta e-mail client won the PC Magazine editor's choice last year, beating out Gmail, amonst others. Here's the review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1830114,00.asp The full version will be rolled out in the US sometime late this year. I admire Gmail's marketing and success and have a gmail account myself - but my Yahoo e-mail accounts are still my primary means of contact and has been way before I was a Y! employee.

Comment by sami

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:05:54 EDT

The Gmail interface is so good and its spam filtering too has been so impressive that I forward even my personal domain email ids to gmail mailbox. I have also bid goodbye to the desktop email clients(Evolution, Thunderbird etc) after getting addicted to GMail's conversation stacking and filters+labels features. I can now chat from with in the browser too!

Comment by Pratyush

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:57:44 EDT

Very nice piece dude. Another important reason: Google did it! If google was going ahead with mails, it was bound to create curiousity. The invites system is still prevelant in gmail. Invites is a good concept on the internet because some one has to do a bit extra to get the service. So the retention probability is much more higher. Quality service is some thing gmail definitely does provide. It is not easy to get customers to switch from their earlier email Ids as they will do it only when it is that much more better. With google talk and google talk synchronisation, it will have the msn effect with people talking and mailing via google, like they did via msn a few years ago. Another aspect is adding people on gmail is almost automatic. If people have a gmail id and they exchange emails, it is one step away to add the person on the google ids. There is also some thing about frequent email exchanged people automatically or more easily added if I am not wrong.