I saw that on previous threads people were offering Gmail invites. I signed up to Gmail a few weeks ago and I have a whopping 50 invites to send and I don't know what to do with them. So if anyone's interested, just send me an email!

I've heard the big talk about Gmail. But, what's the big deal? Is there anything special about it? Thanks

Highlights:
[*]Totally free; only relevant (and discreet) text ads[*]1,000 Mb storage[*]Fast and user-friendly[*]Etc...

See the Gmail tour for an overview and this page for the latest features added.

Thanks

I just don't get it.

I use Google on a daily basis. In fact, I reply on it to do my job at times.

However, what it the big deal with Gmail?

My Yahoo! account
<li>is free</li>
<li>has 250 MB of storage</li>
<li>is fast and friendly</li>
<li>removes 99.99% of spam (I get next to no spam whatsoever - like 1 message a month)</li>
<li>has hosted my account for God knows how long</li>

Why are people jumping ship?

Ohh... they're the Hotmail users. Sorry, my bad.

I've had a hotmail account for a long time. No problems here.

I hate hotmail, I've been a dis-satisfied user for about 6 years now.

I've been a satisfied Gmail user for just under a year now.

The only reason I still log into my hotmail account is for the MSN messenger. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't use it.

You don't absolutely need a Hotmail account to use MSN Messenger; only a .NET Passport. You just have to register using your Gmail adress and log into Messenger with it (which is what I've done). You can register with .NET Passport here.

But I've been using the same address for MSN for 6 years now, and don't feel like changing it.

What have your problems been?

On 3 occasions over the past 6 years, my inbox has been completely erased, along with my contact list. When I e-mailed the hotmail support they offered no help whatsoever. I wasn't impressed.

I can say I've never had problems like this with gmail.

I don't see any good point here. Gmail beats it all :). How can you be so positive about Yahoo mail's spam blocking if you receive only 1 spam a month? Gmail also has spam blocking, though I don't receive any spam so I don't know how effective it is.

I think people are "jumping ship" only because they know Google is an excellent company and that now that they've launched an email service, everyone wants to try it; but registration is on an invitation-only basis, so only a relatively few people can currently sign up.

I wouldn't say it's that exclusive.

Over the span of time I've had the account, i've recieved about 30 invites, and I've given all of them out. Now I've got 50 at this present time, many of the people I've given invites to have 50. I think they're trying to expand, and the best way to expand is through word of mouth.

I think it's a good marketing strategy, make it seem exclusive and more will want to join up.

Indeed. But you'll agree with me that fewer people can sign up to Gmail with the current registration system than if we could only go to the site, fill a form, and we're done.

Until recently, users didn't have that much invites to send. Like you say, they are probably trying to expand.

I've had a yahoo.ca address for an incredibly long period of time. My e-mail address is out there. God knows it's on tonnes of mailing lists. It doens't bother me because I can handle one spam message per month. That's friendly.

I never have a problem logging in. The switching between mailboxes, address book, etc, is always fast.

I guess people have different needs. 250 MB is way more than what I need. On occasion, I will receive a large attachment or two. I once got up to 7% of my account used.

Do you really think that Gmail has 1 GB set aside for each account? Or perhaps they advertise that knowing that most people won't use it?

I don't know if they have 1GB set aside for everyone but right now I'm using 89megs of storage, and I have uploaded big files, mainly powerpoint presentations for school, the most I've ever had was 150megs, and it worked well. I like gmail.

Maybe this is true. But who cares? If you use only 10Mb, then fine, they will use the unused space for people with bigger needs.

Anyway, I'm not here to advertise Gmail. If Yahoo Mail suits you well, then fine! I know other people who use it and I know it offers a good service. With that said, I prefer Gmail because of, among others, the features described earlier.

I think that google is a good company.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the 1 GB claim is only a marketing scheme, at least until it's needed.

How many plain text messages do you need to fill 1 GB??

A hell of a lot.

They have come out with some software that recognizes a gmail account as a removable disk drive, so you can save things directly to it. I bet some people actually have filled up their Gmail with this.

Interesting. Would you use it for critical storage? What if you don't have net access, or are limited to dial-up speeds?

Seems like good technology. Future Shop had a 2 GB thumb drive on sale about a month ago for $150.

http://www.gmail.com/gmail
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/about_whatsnew.html

HA! :p

Oh, by the way, just thought about this: Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail show graphical ads (Hotmail also got pop-ups and large banners). Gmail does not. :)

I guess you win.

You want an invite ;)

Can someone help me get a gmail account. I cant seem to get one cuz i dont know how. i would appreciate it...thx

wats g mail stand for

Google Mail