Gmail Makes Other Netmail Companies Cry...

     On April 1 Gmail posted a little April Fool's joke called the "Infinity +1" storage solution. It was supposed to allow unlimited storage for all users. Of course this was just for launghs put in reality Gmail did in fact double it's already massive 1GB of free storage to 2GB+ and it increases every second as they add more space. Observe :

      That is an astonishing number even for a pay service much less a free one. Can Yahoo, Hotmail, etc... even hope to compete with this? Google's business acumen leaves me stunned.

 

 

Site Meter
106,910 views 114 replies
Reply #1 Top
I heard something about google claiming the contents of your emails as their own intelectual property. Is this true, if so I would see that as a major down side. I must admit it sounds far fetched.
Reply #2 Top

claiming the contents of your emails as their own intelectual property

I think this legend springs from the fact that Gmail does parse your email text so they can display their targeted Google Ads... Frankly I find this feature to be hysterical at times (depending on the contents of your emails)...

Reply #3 Top
I'm wondering how they can afford it. But that's not my problem to worry about
Reply #4 Top
Google makes a fortune off of advertising, and the sale of their search technology to companies and schools. The Keyhole GIS service they purchased last year is also bringing in money. Google is pretty much THE search engine right now. I know very few people who use anything but it, so it makes sense for everyone to want to advertise through it.
Reply #5 Top
Google:
All your data are belong to us.

Hey, Google is great. But remember that Google is in the information parsing buisiness. They are digging out a really big cave, and inviting everyone to fill it with gold. Selling AdWords is nothing. Having a pulse beat on a huge segment of the consumer society is where the real money is at. 2GB is not a feature, it is just marketing. Few people store that much data in their accounts so they don't need to worry about that. But it is a simple, one line bullet statement that says why they are "better" than everyone understands.

It doesn't matter if you use it or not, though. Everyone else will. Google has already won.
Reply #6 Top
I admit I pay $20/yr for my yahoo account, but that comes with 2gb of storage (that I will never use).  I like pop with webmail, and that is why I use Yahoo.
Reply #7 Top
Gmail has POP. Also we're at about 3 gigs now with storage.
Reply #8 Top

They are digging out a really big cave, and inviting everyone to fill it with gold

As long as they continue to churn out free eatures for what is fast becoming a distributed network GUI then I could give a shit if they want to fill their cave with my misspelled "gold" email... It certainly is only gold for them and not at all for me. Perhaps they really do have the Midas touch then?

I like pop with webmail

Me too, thats why I use gmail The main thing I love about gmail is the blinding speed though.

2GB is not a feature, it is just marketing

Actually it is a feature when you use it as a network drive accessible from anywhere on the Web. Find the hack yourself though:)

 

Reply #9 Top

Actually it is a feature when you use it as a network drive accessible from anywhere on the Web. Find the hack yourself though:)

Well, I am not going to get rid of Yahoo, but I may look at Gmail for that reason.

Reply #10 Top
Its called GMail Drive. Google it. It works right in Windows Explorer.
Reply #11 Top

Its called GMail Drive

Aww I wanted Tal to work for it:) It does in fact rock.

Reply #12 Top
how come it says that there is less storage now than what it shows in the first post's image? it says that there was 2106.654143 MB of storage. But now the site says that there is less. 2105.900693 MB.

Reply #13 Top

is less storage now than what it shows in the first post's image

Storage = #users/Drive capacity therefore if there are periods of time when no drives are added but users are signing up then Storage_then > Storage_now.

Reply #14 Top
Google is pretty much THE search engine right now. I know very few people who use anything but it, so it makes sense for everyone to want to advertise through it.


I don't use Google much directly. I'm not sure why but I have an odd loyalty to Yahoo! Of course Yahoo! is partly powered by Google (they don't seem to advertise that fact anymore...odd that)so I guess you can't really escape its evil clutches.
Reply #15 Top
how come it says that there is less storage now than what it shows in the first post's image?


I could be wrong, but it is also worth noting that once the April 1st announcement started the increase in capacity was somewhat time-zone dependent (so that folks hit 2 gigs around the end of the day). It is entirely possible that the number is less because you are an hour or two behind the poster (hence the 'clock' is a little behind as well.

Just a thought.
Reply #16 Top
I could be wrong, but it is also worth noting that once the April 1st announcement started the increase in capacity was somewhat time-zone dependent (so that folks hit 2 gigs around the end of the day). It is entirely possible that the number is less because you are an hour or two behind the poster (hence the 'clock' is a little behind as well.


Huh???? just kiddin

Well it's good other mail providers are now getting off their lethargic rears to do something about spicing up their services. Especially it's giving Microsoft a run for their money, whose 'free' mail gives you either a stingy 2 MB or 25 MB of storage space.

My question is, how do they do it??? I first thought they might have implemented a part from P2P technology, but then again, for that 'theory' you need to use the same PC everytime. Imagine how many servers they must need to support this

But it's free and it's big, so I'm not gonna argue...
Reply #17 Top
You guys actually read your email? I haven't even looked at mine in three or four months.............

(backs away from television typewriter box and heads back to cave, ugh, lights fire, burn animal flesh for to eat........goood)
Reply #18 Top
Especially it's giving Microsoft a run for their money, whose 'free' mail gives you either a stingy 2 MB or 25 MB of storage space.


I have 2 free MS mail accounts and both have 250 meg of space...
Reply #19 Top
Aye, Hotmail gives 250mb of storage.

Id have already completely switched to Gmail if Microsoft hadnt added that extra space.
Its not nearly as much as space as Gmail, to be sure, but Its currently more than I need, and space is no longer an issue.


What bothers me though is that it shows that before Gmail came along, Microsoft could easily get away with a measly 2mb of space.
Reply #20 Top
If anyone looks closely, the amount of storage keeps on going up by about 0.00040 mb. Least it was when I went there.
Reply #22 Top
http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/Oct/1011758.html just a bit of info about security using Gmail drive
Reply #23 Top
Oh SPARE me. I knew about GMail FS since last August. Deployments do not hinder my access to /.

What I am more interested in is using crypto-loop to seemlessly encrypt everything that is stored on GMail.
Reply #24 Top

Gee...matches the privacy/security inherent with a gmail account.

Jafo runs out to get one.....

....not.

Reply #25 Top

What I am more interested in is using crypto-loop to seemlessly encrypt everything that is stored on GMail.

Do you guys do a lot more with Swiss bank account transactions, mass credit card number mailings, or Top Secret SCI emails over NIPR than I do? What do you keep in your free email account that causes you this much concern? Frankly if anyone wants the contents on my email they can blooy well have it! Unless they are a relative I don't think they would be interested though...