I know this is pretty off topic, that's why it's in this section. I have 11 extra invites that I don't feel like going to waste. So I figured RE people deserve them more than anyone else. If anyone wants one just PM me or email me gabri3l2003(at)gmail.com. Higher post counts and mods/admins obviously get priority. Thanks.

Gabe

I think this PR scheme of gmail is quite effective. They give out a "limited number" of invitations to current users, and this is the only way for new users to get an account. When people get these limited invitations, they feel just like you, they don't want to waste them, so they start pushing them on their friends. These friends in turn feel privileged to get access to such an invitation (i.e. "limited" resource), and so the whole thing loops, with exponential growth.

Thanks for sharing your invitations anyway, nothing wrong with that, I just wanted to share my views on their clever PR scheme.

Which brings me to a slight disgression....

Why are people always doing what they promised they would not do and subsequently fall into the growth~money umbrella?

Its like linux and crap shouting we will _never_ be like microsoft. But then going and trying to implement (in my opinion:crappy) windows-like interface.

When will people be honest and admit I'm in it for the money?

Google + Email is a lot like Unix trying to go graphical. I feel its going to fall badly on its face. Hmmm.. Just another brilliant _small_ company going the _big_ way and becoming unrecongizable in the process. Another brick in the wall.

Oh by the way, please don't flame me. I am not trolling. Linux _is_ (well, maybe) a good OS, and the view expressed are _entirely_ my personal opionions. Of course they could be wrong.

Then again, they could be correct too...

Have Phun

I'm interested to know why you think that? GMail has 3 important things:

1. Huge storage - 1 gig is unprecendented for a free mailhost. It's even scared Microsoft into doing the same with Hotmail (whicxh I'm sure will really piss off the Hotmail+ subscribers)

2. Good user interface. Gmail is *fast*, even over a 28k modem. The interface is clean, and once you get used to the "conversation" and label system rather than folders, it's easy.

3. Clever revenue - GMail puts (IMO) fairly unintrusive context sensitive adverts on the right hand side of your emails. Personally I never even see them, and because I only use GMail for public and mailing list email, privacy etc doesn't bother me (never use someone else's mail service if you do care about privacy).

Those 3 add up to success. Google is a big company. They're technically excellent. GMail is useful, convenient and easy to use. My only annoyance with it is that it doesn't work with IE 5.0, 5.01 or 5.5 (I believe). That's a pain in the ass when you're using a basic 98, NT, or 2k machine that hasn't been upgraded...

I just saw the other day that Hotmail+ (or whatever their premium service is called) has 2 GB storage now, so maybe they're not that pissed after all.

lol... but seriously, 2 gig of email? I get that much in spam, not in real mail.... <checks outlook .pst file> 247meg of email for the last 5 years or so. Ok thats just this machine and doesn't count my mail stored on other systems... but it probably comes in at less than 500meg in total. What the hell will anyone do with 2gig (or even 1 gig at that!) I have no idea.

Good marketing ploy tho, seeing as storage is dirt cheap.

Why they'll start e-mailing software to all their friends. The junk sent expands to fill the space available.

Once I paid a small forutne for a 20Mg, yes I said "Meg" HD and thought I'd never fill it up. Now I have 2 200Gig HDs and they are getting full. Time to off load some cr*p again and store it on CDs, until I get a DVD writer.

Regards,

I've still got a few invites left as well. If anyone's interested, send me a pm.


cheers,
will

http://isnoop.net/gmailomatic.php

heh, nice

Ok, this is getting ridiculous:

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20040927_194824.html

So, um, where's my woodmann.net 10 terabyte mailbox then?