Next Up: GBay, GCommerce...

We all know about Gmail by now, yes? That is, it's a cool idea, it's not an April Fool's joke, and its revenue model (it scans your email for frequently-used terms, then serves up relevant ads) has privacy advocates wetting themselves.

So, is anything new under the sun?

• Some say merely entering your email address to get more info on Gmail may be a privacy problem, partially due to the fact that Google has devised a cookie that will last until I'm on Medicare. (Just kidding. Medicare won't last that long.)
• Beta testers are starting to file their reports.
• Someone (probably several someones, but this is the one I saw) found a service that already offers 1 GB of email storage space, and more. (Update: This was a quickie copycat move).
• In my second Yahoo/Google collusion conspiracy theory of the day, anyone find it odd that Yahoo offered random users 100MB more storage space the day before Google announced Gmail?
• "Changing search engines is easy, as Google’s rival AltaVista found to its cost," said The Times UK. "Changing e-mail provider is more of a chore." True, so does Google still expect people to switch? Or is it thinking long-term, wanting to scoop up new Net users? Maybe it's hoping there are lots of emailers one outage away from dropping Hotmail, or -- the more likely option -- jumping on the Gmail bandwagon because so many people think Google can do no wrong.

I dunno. I think I'll stick with Eudora.

Anything else I/we should know about Gmail? Drop a comment.

Posted by jenmuehlbauer, April 5, 2004 11:38 PM | | TrackBack