Is Gmail ever coming out of Beta?

C

Cabn12

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
299
Is G-Mail ever coming out of Beta? It's been in Beta for nearly 3 years. I use it almost exclusively now and am thinking about switching to Yahoo.
 
Why would you switch to Yahoo because GMail hasn't come out of beta. Does it lack a feature or something? Beta is about as loose of a word as it gets these days.
 
Tweakin said:
Why would you switch to Yahoo because GMail hasn't come out of beta. Does it lack a feature or something? Beta is about as loose of a word as it gets these days.
Click to expand...

There are a few things in G-mail that bug me. You can't insert pics into an e-mail you can only send as an attachment. When composing a new e-mail you cant click on the "to" and bring up your contacts. There are a few other things that bug me but cant think of right now. I know they are little insignificant things but other web e-mail clients that use AJAX might be more polished or have more featrues. I was hoping once G-mail comes out of "beta" most of my issues would be taken care of.
 
I use Gmail exclusively, but I have noticed a problem.

I was working on a project for school in a team. My team members tried to send me the updated files that we were working on. They sent it to the correct address and Gmail blocked it.

But it blocked it in such a way that it did not even let me know. Not only this, my team members did not recieve an email back letting them know it didn't go through. It just vanished.

I know they sent it properly because we were sitting RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER in the computer lab. We tried multiple times, and even on multiple occassions.

This was about this time last year. I am not sure if it has changed since then.
 
I greatly prefer Yahoo! Mail Beta to Gmail. The interface to so much easier to read, it includes a calendar view in the mail client and it is the best I have seen so far.
 
The only thing I don't like about Gmail is that it makes Opera crash about 1/5th of the time for me. :(.
 
Gmail is pure awesome, and it doesn't matter if it's quote-unquote beta or not.
 
Are any Google products (besides search) out of Beta?
 
I would imagine the beta deal is prior to a bundle deal. Some products are coming pre-bundled in computers, such as desktop search. I would imagine that the mail client will also be a feature to be sold in pre-bundle computers, but perhaps it has not come out of beta for specifics regarding it not being ready for pre-bundling.
 
I use gmail exclusively through Outlook/pop3 and I love it, but I agree with the OP's complaints about the web based gmail. I also don't like how with (web based) gmail everything stays in your inbox and you mark things with labels. I like hotmail :eek: web based email better.
 
Puterguru said:
Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird etc... all work with Gmail.
Click to expand...
Sure. But that doesn't seem to match what Nasty_Savage is saying; OE is already bundled with most computers that have Windows installed on 'em.
 
mikeblas said:
Sure. But that doesn't seem to match what Nasty_Savage is saying; OE is already bundled with most computers that have Windows installed on 'em.
Click to expand...
I must have mised his reply. Thought you were just asking about an email client for Gmail, sorry.
 
CompuDrew said:
I use gmail exclusively through Outlook/pop3 and I love it, but I agree with the OP's complaints about the web based gmail. I also don't like how with (web based) gmail everything stays in your inbox and you mark things with labels. I like hotmail :eek: web based email better.
Click to expand...


You can also archive emails and that will take them out of your inbox. Once they're in your archive, labeling them is basically just like putting them in folders. Arguably better, even.
 
Honestly, I don't understand the passion for Gmail. It has some cool features like search, integrated IM, POP3 access and biggest size, but I dislike almost everything else about it.
In fact, I am switching back to Yahoo! Mail beta.
 
Cabn12 said:
You can't insert pics into an e-mail you can only send as an attachment.
Click to expand...
And this is a bad thing? I can't stand it when pictures are imbedded in e-mails. Can you say, security risk?
 
I've been using Yahoo Mail almost exclusively (ahem Hardforum.com) for eight years. Suits most of my needs just fine. I use Ypops to download my emails with Outlook, so I can't use Yahoo Mail beta, not that I llike it anyway. If I want to search for something I go to www.yahoo.com or www.google.com. All this feature integration is getting annoying. Why would I want to call someone with Yahoo Messenger when my phone is sitting right beside me?
 
djnes said:
And this is a bad thing? I can't stand it when pictures are imbedded in e-mails. Can you say, security risk?
Click to expand...

Sure...security risk. There, now what? :D
 
Cabn12 said:
Sure...security risk. There, now what? :D
Click to expand...
Well, first there was the WMF vulnerability. Secondly, if you can embed an image in an e-mail, it usually means the format is HTML, which opens the doors to a whole host of problems. I guess it truly is easier to laugh at something, rather than do a little reading. :rolleyes:
 
djnes said:
Well, first there was the WMF vulnerability. Secondly, if you can embed an image in an e-mail, it usually means the format is HTML, which opens the doors to a whole host of problems. I guess it truly is easier to laugh at something, rather than do a little reading. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Wow. Take a joke buddy.
I know the risks I'm not an AOL noob. :rolleyes:
 
You may be new here, based on your title, but there is some common sense involved. Emotions and facial expressions can't be read on a web page. You also will learn as you've been here, a large number of noobs come in here with an attitude that they know it all. That's how your post came across. All I can do is read the text on the screen. I can take a joke as well as anyone else, it's just that some of us are conditioned that when a noob posts something that can be taking as coping an attitude, the warning alarms go off.
 
I may be a noob to posting on hardforums, however HardOCP has been a favorite site of mine for years, but am not a noob when it comes to PCs. I've been working for a large health care company as a Senior Technical Analyst for over a decade now and will quickly and openly admit I don't know every thing. I do like to joke around though.

By the way. WindowsXP-KB912919-x86-ENU.exe
 
djnes said:
You may be new here, based on your title, but there is some common sense involved. Emotions and facial expressions can't be read on a web page. You also will learn as you've been here, a large number of noobs come in here with an attitude that they know it all. That's how your post came across. All I can do is read the text on the screen. I can take a joke as well as anyone else, it's just that some of us are conditioned that when a noob posts something that can be taking as coping an attitude, the warning alarms go off.
Click to expand...

In his defense, he did use the classic :D approach.

Anywho, as long as Gmail exists, my email solution is fixed.
 
You have to remember that none of us know your background, or can even verify it if we wanted to go into psycho levels. All we have to go on is the title, and all of us started at the noob level. Every single person on here was a noob at one point in time, in their careers and on the boards.

All I am trying to say is that your response could easily be taken as copping an attitude. We've had a rash of noobs (in title) come in here flaming people left and right on any subject, as long as they had a differing opinion. Fortunately, many of them have been banned.

When many of us see a comment that can be taken as "flame-bait", posted by a noob, all we think is "Here we go again". That all being said, welcome to the forums. And if you were an AOL noob, we'd beat you with a stack of their free CDs! ;)
 
djnes said:
All we have to go on is the title, and all of us started at the noob level. Every single person on here was a noob at one point in time, in their careers and on the boards.
Click to expand...
I bet Kyle didn't. :-p
 
Eulogy said:
I bet Kyle didn't. :-p
Click to expand...
Lol...I take back my statement. ALMOST all of us didn't start as noobs. Honestly, if I had my own site, I'd give myself a custom title right away, too.
 
djnes said:
All I am trying to say is that your response could easily be taken as copping an attitude.
Click to expand...
Meanwhile, your response certainly copped an attitude. Forum tags don't mean anything; I think we do better when we assume the best about others and try to help. Rolling one's eyes or making condescending remarks like "can you say 'security issue'?" isn't helpful, noob title or not.
 
mikeblas said:
Meanwhile, your response certainly copped an attitude. Forum tags don't mean anything; I think we do better when we assume the best about others and try to help. Rolling one's eyes or making condescending remarks like "can you say 'security issue'?" isn't helpful, noob title or not.
Click to expand...
I use that "can you say" phrase in real life quite often, actually.
 
mikeblas said:
Meanwhile, your response certainly copped an attitude. Forum tags don't mean anything; I think we do better when we assume the best about others and try to help. Rolling one's eyes or making condescending remarks like "can you say 'security issue'?" isn't helpful, noob title or not.
Click to expand...

lol.

Mike, you, of all people, are not one to be talking about copping an attitude. It used to be so that almost every post I saw you make was in conflict with another member over something-or-other. I don't know if this trend has changed as of late, but I know it used to be so. I just felt that your first sentence was quite ironic. Oh, and that phrase is quite a common phrase, and is not condescending in the least.

dj, I think all of us old timers have a sort of warning system in place for noobs, but I think we should give them a chance, for all we know, the "noob" could be a quite knowledgeable IT type with years of OTJ experience. No offense to you or anyone, but its just the way I feel, take it as you will.
 
AMD[H]unter said:
but I know it used to be so.
Click to expand...
Either that, or it was never quite so and you've repeatedly assumed conflict or malice when there was none. It happens often that people assume someone asking critical questions, providing forthright feedback, and pushing for accurate and definitive answers is being argumentative.

AMD[H]unter said:
Oh, and that phrase is quite a common phrase, and is not condescending in the least.
Click to expand...
Sure: it was very common on the late Fred Rogers' television show, where there was an adult explaining things to preschool- and kindergarden-aged children.
 
I think thats actually the name of googles email service, "Gmail beta" thats what they call it... I've been using it for about 3 years whenever it first came out and I remember feeling exclusive since I had gmail and if someone else wanted it I had to invite them to an account :p
 
djnes and mikeblas copping attitudes with each other in regards to copping attitudes. Can you say, hilarious?

Sorry... if I could have resisted, I would have :D

Anyway, I think someone mentioned Google keeping GMail in beta until it's 'final purpose' or where it actually ends up is revealed is probably accurate. I know I have seen a quote or two from Eric Schmidt in regards to that. Obviously, any of us that use GMail know it's a fairly feature rich and stable web based email client. Hardly a piece of 'beta software' that needs extensive testing to be officially released (beta in the regular sense).

It is sort of annoying how the trend has now caught on and BETA is beginning to become a word to get some buzz out there about a new product or technology.
 
Been using it since the beginning, and I couldn't even think about using any other email service. The search and threaded mail is something I can't live without, and gmail does both so freakin well.

Their spam filter is pretty top notch as well. I think only 1 slips through every other month.

I used to hate the fact that I couldn't open up my address book to add people to the "to" line, but I realized I don't need to waste time with that step. Just start typing anyone's name and they pop right up and every variation they have.

Only problem I had the other day was trying to email an .exe file. Just won't let you with gmail. Tried zipping it, searches that. Guess you would have to do multiple zips/rars to get it to go. Kind of a pain. I know the reasoning, but it would be nice if there was a way around it that still kept everything secure.
 
Rename the .exe to .old or whatever, stays secure and keeps things nice and neat. Just remember to tell the recipient to rename it. :)
 
Gmail sucks. I hate the idea of just lumping all the mail together and letting tags and search sort it all out when you need to find something. If the emails are in the correct folder to start with I never have a problem finding what I am looking for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top