Well, I don't use it for real e-mail.  I haven't given out the address,
and I don't check it regularly.  The only reason I got an account was
because I wanted to see what Google was up to.

After using it, I can confirm that Google appears to have done webmail
"right"  There are so many little details, it's hard to remember specific
ones.  But just using it, it "felt" so much better than Hotmail or Yahoo
ever did.

For example:

The interface is very lightweight, but is still visually aesthetic and
very functional.

Lots of other interface niceties that make e-mail navigation "smooth"  I
don't know how else to describe it.  I have to use Outhouse at work, and
it's like a train-wreck for e-mail.  Using the GMail interface for mail is
far better than any other webmail system I've used, and is probably even
better than anything to come out of Washington (excepting PINE...)

Now I know how to describe it - expected behavior.  For the most part, the
interface works like you would expect it to, without having to read
documentation and such.

They discourage deleting anything.  Hotmail and Yahoo, I imagine is a
mad-rush to delete anything not important before you reach your max space.

I have working code to uuencode a file, chunk it into 9.9MB blocks, tag
the subject with file identification, and e-mail it to my gmail account. 
The reverse is not yet working.  While completely useless as-is, I can
conceive of someone creating a very large and robust file-store using
GMail accounts.  Or P2P software.  Or god-knows what else.

GMail didn't even blink when I sent a 400MB file, chunked into 40
messages.

They encourage moving inactive messages from the Inbox into an Archive
folder, rather than creating a folder hierarchy and (either manually or
automatically) sorting messages into folders.  This is completely
backwards from what most people are used to, but it works well.  The
e-mail search function is convenient (unlike Outlook, where it's 3 clicks
away), powerful (unlike Outlook where you have to go through hoops to
define exactly which fields to search for what), and accurate (unlike
Outlook, where, well, okay I can't think of anything, but I'm sure Outlook
screws this up somehow...)

If Outlook didn't choke on large folders, and had a more convenient search
capability, I would seriously consider moving to this 2-folder system.

This is how my dad wants to use e-mail (he just doesn't realize it).  He
has 1000's of messages in his Inbox - no folders.  This is fine for
searching and sorting, but IMHO was awful with all of the clutter of 3+
year old messages in his Inbox.  The archive folder is actually a pretty
good system.

More on the interface - most people have heard about the ads.  Just like
the ads in their search results, they are non-intrusive and barely
noticable.  In fact, I was on vacation when Google moved to their
right-side text ad system, and I didn't even notice the change when I got
back, I can confirm that I DID NOT feel a disturbance in the force.  It
wasn't until I read about it on /. that I realized they were there.  Same
with gmail.

(Not a Star-Wars Weenie)
Adam

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004, Dan Drake wrote:


  [NON-Text Body part not included]



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