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Google to Launch Free Mail Service?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hit-them-where-it-hurts dept.

prostoalex writes "The New York Times article on Yahoo and Terry Semel's management (soul stealing form required) mentions Google preparing "to offer a free e-mail service, people close to the company said, in a bid for Yahoo's most important source of loyal customers"."

110 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Google Portal? by Liselle · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Google email is interesting, but I hope they stop there. If the Google front page starts looking like Yahoo!'s bloat-fest, they'll be losing one of the things that really gives them an edge over the competition. Clever searching algorithms can be duplicated.
    But Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, dismisses the idea that Google is disadvantaged. "How long does it take to type your ZIP code, maybe five seconds?" he said in an interview this month, adding that Google would be quick to add personalization features if it felt that they would help users.
    This frightens me.
    --
    Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
    1. Re:Google Portal? by ktanmay · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I agree, search quality will definitely take a hit, and the competition is building to such a degree that it won't be long before some startup from Stanford/MIT will do what google did to altavista/yahoo.

    2. Re:Google Portal? by FePe · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Google email is interesting, but I hope they stop there. If the Google front page starts looking like Yahoo!'s bloat-fest, they'll be losing one of the things that really gives them an edge over the competition.

      One of Google's mayor strenghts is its simple interface. When compared to other search engines including Yahoo, Google's interface seems very clean and simple, and also the way the whole site is put together. Regular users don't need all the features that Google has to offer, but power users may want to use them, and they can easily find out where they are accessed. For example, Advanced search is on the front page where all can find it; but one must know about other features to use them, and that's not a problem for the users who wants to use these.

      --
      "Until you do what you believe in, how do you know whether you believe in it or not?" -- Leo Tolstoy
    3. Re:Google Portal? by kawaichan · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I know i know, yahoo's front page is clutting as hell, links upon links.

      but have you taken a look at the actual search page, it actually looks damn clean.

      I like it better than google's interface IMO.

      --

      kawai
    4. Re:Google Portal? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 4, Informative
      "One of Google's mayor strenghts is its simple interface. When compared to other search engines including Yahoo, Google's interface seems very clean and simple, and also the way the whole site is put together."

      Yahoo's search page is also pretty simple, but probably not what people generally think of using when searching with Yahoo.
      Maybe that's just a question of priorities - which set of features gets on the 'front' page. So long as Google keeps its front page the simple one, that probably won't be an issue.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    5. Re:Google Portal? by ncr53c8xx · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Yahoo's search page is also pretty simple, but probably not what people generally think of using when searching with Yahoo.

      That page is only simple compared to the Yahoo portal. It took about 10 seconds to load, and has 6 images. Speed is everything for searches.

    6. Re:Google Portal? by Rai · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, Google already has a lot of extra services here. But like you, no matter how many new services they offer, I do hope they keep the front page clean and minimal as it is now.

  2. Client by ThisNukes4u · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they'll provide POP or IMAP access without having to pay for it like Yahoo!, I'm sure it will be quite succesfull.

    --
    thisnukes4u.net
    1. Re:Client by cookiepus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If they'll provide POP or IMAP access without having to pay for it like Yahoo!, I'm sure it will be quite succesfull.

      That's not a good idea from the business point of view. If people are popping their mail, they're not seeing text adds. What's the point?

      --
      Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
    2. Re:Client by anti-trojan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They can add the text ads at the end of e-mails (sent or received) as well... Not nice, but still better than webmail.

      --
      Virus infects both Windows and Linux!
  3. Excellent Idea by Zone-MR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If they can avoid yahoo's extremely bloated interface and stick with google's simplicity for their webmail, the idea might be a winner.

    Of course they will need to invest a lot of effort into spam filtering for the service to be of any value.

  4. Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    $ whois googlemail.com

    [snip]

    Registrant:
    Google Inc.
    (DOM-302458)
    2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View
    CA
    94043 US

    Domain Name: googlemail.com

    Registrar Name: Alldomains.com
    Registrar Whois: whois.alldomains.com
    Registrar Homepage: http://www.alldomains.com

    Administrative Contact:
    DNS Admin
    (NIC-1467103)
    Google Inc.
    2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View
    CA
    94043 US
    dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506188571
    Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
    DNS Admin
    (NIC-1467103)
    Google Inc.
    2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View
    CA
    94043 US
    dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506188571

    Created on..............: 2001-Jul-18.
    Expires on..............: 2005-Jul-18.
    Record last updated on..: 2003-Dec-30 15:39:37.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    NS1.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.32.10
    NS2.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.34.10
    NS3.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.36.10
    NS4.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.38.10

    Alldomains.com - The Leader in Corporate Domain Management

    $

    1. Re:Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by m_dob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or it could be that they don't want someone to use the domain to create a shady business. I thought this was common practice. If they brought this domain in 2001, likelihood is that they brought it more for safety's sake.

    2. Re:Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by the+uNF+cola · · Score: 5, Informative

      Or they could be saving money on law suits for trade mark stuff.

      If someone took googlemail.com and used it, they could lose their trade mark and cause confusion, with or without knowing it. Paying $200 for 5 or so years for a trademark'd domain is sure cheaper than keeping a lawyer in court.

      --

      --
      "I'm not bright. Big words confuse me. But Wanda loves me and that should be enough for you." - Cosmo

    3. Re:Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by fbg111 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Looks like the Google home page "www.google.com" will remain as it is - light and uncluttered. "www.googlemail.com" will probably be another tab link on the main page, like "Groups", "Images", "Directory", and "News" are.

      --
      Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
    4. Re:Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by orkysoft · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, that would imply that you could search for mail.

      If Google were to link to Google Mail, the link would appear somewhere else on the page.

      --

      I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
    5. Re:Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, and it seems more likely they would use 'mail.google.com' for a mail service, fits in with 'directory.' and 'images.' and so forth.

    6. Re:Certainly seems like they're planning for it... by gst · · Score: 5, Insightful
      yeah - porn was always a good idea to make money :)
      $ whois googlesex.com

      [snip]

      Registrant:
      Google Inc. (DOM-258919)
      2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US

      Domain Name: googlesex.com

      Registrar Name: Alldomains.com
      Registrar Whois: whois.alldomains.com
      Registrar Homepage: http://www.alldomains.com

      Administrative Contact:
      DNS Admin (NIC-1340142) Google Inc.
      2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US
      dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506181499
      Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
      DNS Admin (NIC-1340144) Google Inc.
      2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US
      dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506181499

      Created on..............: 2000-Mar-15.
      Expires on..............: 2005-Mar-15.
      Record last updated on..: 2003-Dec-30 15:39:39.

      Domain servers in listed order:

      NS1.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.32.10
      NS2.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.34.10
      NS3.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.36.10
      NS4.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.38.10

      Alldomains.com - The Leader in Corporate Domain Management
      guess who owns googleporn.com...
  5. cant resist it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    probably quickly snatched up. booble@google.com

  6. Positive progress by Locky · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Coming from Google its pretty much a given the tried and tested 'Free Email' sector will see some new and exciting innovations.

    However, the KISS method should defintley continue to apply for Google.com - the moment it begins to mimick Yahoo or MSN is the moment it will have lost its edge.

    1. Re:Positive progress by Montreal+Geek · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I'm probably going to show my geeky age... but one of the things I most appreciate from Google is that it works right with textmode browsers (e.g. lynx, links).

      Their designers/programmers, happily possess a full set of clues. They understand that the Web is not TV, and that HTML is a carrier for contents, not eye candy.

      If they can do this right with free webmail too, they win even more brownie points!

      Don't get me started about sites that give you error messages (or worse yet, fail dismally without explanation) simply because you don't have *script or foo-browser-extension from M$.

      Or, the even more annoying ones that complain and refuse to let you in when they think you aren't using MSIE but in fact work perfectly if you instruct your browser to lie about what it is.

      K*I*S*S!

      -- MG

  7. The question is... by dolo666 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If google starts a mail service, is it really to take on Yahoo? I have a pretty good opinion of Google for most of their decisions and I find it hard to beleive that they would go out and try to attack another company.

    Maybe I'm naive, but I beleive if Google has decided to go after new business, it would be because they decided to move into a new market, not because they wanted to act in malace against another company.

    1. Re:The question is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are naive. You probably also believe Apple is a "nice" company, too (see battery replacement plan).

      I hate to spoil it for a lot of you people, but Google is no longer run by the engineers. They have a CEO. They also have a bunch of backers who want to get paid a lot of money when this company goes public. They are not in business to make you guys feel good about them. They are in business to make money.

    2. Re:The question is... by samsmithnz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think quite a few people would jump. How many times to you hear about people dropping their yahoo or hotmail accounts because they have too much spam (little do they relieze that changing accounts doesn't help).

      I think a lot of people will jump over.

    3. Re:The question is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
      I hate to spoil it for a lot of you people, but Google is no longer run by the engineers.

      That's totally false. The CEO you mention is Eric Schmidt, who has a PhD in computer science and is the author of Lex, the automatic scanner generator. The founders still hold controlling interest in the stock. Google is the most engineering-driven company you're likely to come across.

    4. Re:The question is... by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They are not in business to make you guys feel good about them. They are in business to make money.

      Yeah, and the two are, like, totally mutually exclusive, right? Believe it or not, but word-of-mouth is still the most effective form of advertising ever, and the best way to get that is to keep customers happy. In this case, google relies a lot on people telling each other just how cool this search engine is, and how quickly it loads, and how you're not spammed to death with advertisements, and guess what, it bloody works! Every person in my social circle who owns a computer knows google, and that includes some seriously digitally handicapped individuals....hi mom!

      --

      People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
  8. Privacy by toesate · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder whether Google mail will index my mails. sounds spooky..

    --
    Hey, that's my password you are typing
    1. Re:Privacy by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Interesting
      No, but when you're reading your email, there will be small text ads on the right side of the screen targeted to the content of your email.

      For example, if someone is emailing you about overcoming the Great Satan, perhaps some of the ads will be for flight schools in your area. It's just helpful search routines with no privacy issues at all. Nothing to worry about citizen, the computer is your friend.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    2. Re:Privacy by amRadioHed · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Personally I don't want Google reading/analysing my e-mail. Even if is just some algorithm.

      Almost all email clients and servers analyse your mail these days. That's how the spam filters work.

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
  9. Uh-oh by m_dob · · Score: 5, Funny

    Step 1: Google takes over search engines

    Step 2: Google takes over webmail services

    Step 3: Tomorrow - the world!


    What next? The Google OS?


  10. I wish someone would... by poptones · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Because google really needs the competition. While I find the search engine useful for many specific tasks (like the way it provides a better search of the ms tech support site than MS does) and it's still my first choice for searches, it ain't AT ALL what it used to be. Try looking for "motherboard reviews" for example (even if you have a specific part number) and you'll be lucky to find an ACTUAL "review" on the first two pages of results.

    Google was great, but "advertisers" figured out how to game it long ago and I don't think the folks at google are interested in evolving the concept much further. I have serious reservations about MS being able to actually compete with their technology (they can't even figure out what's on their own damn tech support site) but I really wish SOMEONE would do some "duplication and evolution;" maybe THAT would light a fire under some asses at google.

    1. Re:I wish someone would... by Liselle · · Score: 5, Informative
      ...but I really wish SOMEONE would do some "duplication and evolution;" maybe THAT would light a fire under some asses at google.
      Now that you mention it, you've reminded me of something: I've been told that AlltheWeb has gotten pretty good these days, and my own experiences with it have been mostly positive. They are tied to Overture, but the results seem to be pretty good, and the home page is blissfully plain.
      --
      Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
    2. Re:I wish someone would... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      You know, if you use syntax, you nearly always get what you are after on google.

      Instead of typing:
      K8NNXP motherboard reviews
      (for example)

      type:
      "motherboard" +K8NNXP +review
      You will be sure to get a result from that :)

    3. Re:I wish someone would... by ZoneGray · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah, I've noticed the same thing, it's becoming really difficult to find editorial reviews through Google. All you get is shopping pages, link farms, and somewhere buried in the first couple of pages will be epinions.com, and that's about it. You almost never find a real editorial article on a product.

    4. Re:I wish someone would... by evilWurst · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...but you should be expecting problems with a search for something as horribly generic as "motherboard review" anyway. If you search for something that *should* get millions of results, and you do in fact get millions of results, well, you asked for it :)

      That's the sort of "problem" with only one solution: the user needs to narrow down the search himself. Continuing the mobo example, by supplying more... like processor architecture, manufacturer, and so on. To expect google to automagically do this FOR you is to defeat the purpose of a useful search engine - you're asking them to make all the choices for you. That's bound to make the wrong choices. Frequently. And it opens up a new way for shadier search engines to take money in exchange for adding bias into their results, or for random scammish web page designers to try to game the system.

      The solution is basically what google already does: there's a "search within these results" box you can use to narrow down your search if you got a big pile of uselessly generic results. I suggest you use that.

    5. Re:I wish someone would... by Reivec · · Score: 5, Informative

      I just searched "motherboard reviews" on google and about 9 out of 10 links it came up with DID take me to actual reviews, so I am not sure what your complaint here is. I am hearing more and more people trash google for having too many ads and not enough content but I have personally not once found this to be a problem on google. I always find what I want pretty damn quick there.

    6. Re:I wish someone would... by Quantum+Jim · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's easy to fix! I simply add a set of anti-purchase strings to my query. Terms such as -purchase -merchant -buy -sell -sex -porn work well. Advertisers are in a jam because they want to be at the top for a search, but also want to sell you something. I've found that method to filter about 75% of all spam on Google.

      I guess Google is a victim of its own success.

      --
      It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
      - Jerome Klapka Jerome
  11. Sad to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    We really have to admit that Google is in decline. In all likelihood, there may be only one more (or possibly two) years before Google goes away forever.

    I know it is now almost a mantra set in stone that "Google is dying". Unfortunately, the abuse of that fact by trolls has obscured the truth, that truth being that Google really is dying.

    My main reason for moving away from Google to MSN Search has been twofold. First, to avoid the constant IPO uncertainties. And secondly, to investigate more promising and viable entries in the search engine sweepstakes. Google is no longer a legitimate player, I'm sorry to say.

  12. Makes sense by arvindn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Yahoo mail throws some huge animated ads at you. Mozilla blocks them for me of course, but the average person suffers them. If google can combine targeted text advertising with email (like by analyzing the content of the email) then maybe they can offer some serious competition. The article hints at something like that.

    I remember reading about a year ago on one of the google related stories here on slashdot, that the reason google has been very successful is that they've done one thing and done it well, rather than trying to be a portal and integrate everything. Specifically, one poster said that if google ever offered an email service (and implying that that's an unlikely possibility) he'd ditch google for searching and google would soon degenerate into just another website with a Dubious Business Model. Follow up posters agreed with that comment. So, the time has come now. I ask the people who felt that way last year, are you sticking to your decision/analysis? If not, what has changed?

    1. Re:Makes sense by fbg111 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If google can combine targeted text advertising with email (like by analyzing the content of the email) then maybe they can offer some serious competition.

      That would be just great. Then we could not only get tons of Viagra and penis enlargement emails, we could also tons of Viagra and penis enlargement targeted text ads. Maybe even all in the same email. Can't wait.

      --
      Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
    2. Re:Makes sense by jacoplane · · Score: 2, Informative

      There's an interesting interview with Google co-founder Sergei Brin about the future of google advertising.

  13. The next step.... by ZeroVerteX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...should be a Google IM based on Jabber! That would rock!

    --
    If it can go wrong it wnetscape: Segmentation Fault, Core dumped
    1. Re:The next step.... by infiniti99 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      One of the tough aspects of popularizing XMPP/Jabber is that no large company has stepped forward to fully deliver it to the end-user. Ideally, AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo would try to migrate their IM protocols to the standard, but somehow this seems unlikely. If a large company could provide a consumer-level IM client, plus dedicated server, plus whitepages, etc (the whole nine yards), and compete against the other gorillas, maybe this will work.

      I'd really like to see this, because the Jabber world really needs it. If we can't convince any of the existing major IM players to adopt Jabber, then we need a new company to enter the ring. But is Google large enough to take them on?

  14. I don't believe Yahoo on this one by SmilingBoy · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Knowing where searchers live and what their interests are, Yahoo believes, will let it present results that are more relevant and advertising that is more focused.
    I am not convinced, Yahoo. By looking at my IP, Google knows where I live as well. OK, Yahoo knows that one of my interests is cooking. But is that knowledge really an advantage for serving relevant advertising when I am searching for "Digital Camera Cheap"?
    1. Re:I don't believe Yahoo on this one by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You can get the ISP out of the IP (via whois), then with an accurate time, it's possible to get the ISP to give you an address (law enforcement use this method all the time).

      If you're on static IP it's even more trivial... you don't even need the time.

  15. Sweet... by Zordas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Can't wait for this to happen. Currently I have to use gotmail to fetch my hotmail accounts then forward them to my ISP via an hourly cron job. With Google doing mail, I'm sure they will add IMAP support and be a little more "User Friendly" to us Linux users. (Not to mention No ads !)

  16. Almost a dupe by GillBates0 · · Score: 3, Informative
    Most of the arguments/speculations in this story were addressed in this earlier Slashdot story (incidentally submitted by me). A few useful links there:

    Google Eyes New Email Service, Expansion on Monday January 19, @04:02PM

    Posted by simoniker on Monday January 19, @04:02PM
    from the ultimate-internet-moogles dept.
    GillBates0 writes "According to a CNN/Reuters story, Google is developing a service to attach its lucrative keyword-based advertising to email: ''I'm sure Google is getting more and more concerned about locking in users. It wouldn't surprise me if they did something very sophisticated with e-mail,' said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com, who tracks the industry.' Apparently, Google has purchased an e-mail management software maker and registered the domain name googlemail.com. The article also speculates that Google is slowly on the way to becoming a full-fledged portal, with the gradual addition of more and more portal-like features like Froogle."

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  17. The main thing... by linuxci · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The main thing is whatever they do they retain their simple search interface. But if they do go the route of a mail service provider then it might be a good idea to investigate closer links with the Mozilla project.


    I already suggested the benefits for both Google and mozilla.org for Google to replace their IE Toolbar with an official Google branded Firefox. If they don't want to make their mail service freely available through IMAP or POP3 then they could do what Netscape did in NS 7.x and make their mail servers accessible to their own branded mozilla client. Although it would be nice if Google mail would be based on Thunderbird rather than the suite.


    Hotmail is available through Outlook Express, so it'd be nice if Google did something similar without the tie in to MS products.

    1. Re:The main thing... by SimplexO · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As much as I am a mozilla supporter (I really love the element-animal products -- I've installed them on my parent's system), I don't think the idea of a google branded thunderbird would work well, at least until Ben finishes his smart update (due for firefox 1.0) and Scott encorporates that into Thunderbird. If google will be giving it out, it will need to be dummy proof, and we can't have X people playing around with Google Thunderbird 0.5 for the next few years.

      --
      Get Firefox!
    2. Re:The main thing... by linuxci · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think Google would rather target a product that people actually use i.e. IE rather than some microsegment

      More people would use Mozilla products if they were aware of them and Google has the name to push them. Continuing to depend on IE for their toolbar product sounds like a bad idea when they've got the opportunity to entice people over to a browser that's not written by a company that's currently hostile towards Google.

      Of course, Google would still work in IE, just like it does now (unlikely MS would do anything that bad to stop people visiting google.com), so IE users can still happily use Google.

    3. Re:The main thing... by linuxci · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is true, I wouldn't expect Google to package up pre-release browsers, however if they did decide on this course of action they could perhaps pay for a few more developers to work on the project, I'm fairly sure Ben and Scott are paid by the foundation but it'd be nice to see others.

      I'm looking forward to the smartupdate feature in Firefox and hopefully there'll be enough people to test it to death when it arrives in 0.9 so that we can get a really solid 1.0

      Here's what I think the apps need to be successful (fortunately these seemed to be planned for before 1.0):
      - The auto update feature for both the mail and browser apps
      - Auto disabling of extensions not compatible with the current release
      - An installer for Thunderbird
      - Common plugins automatically installed (e.g. Flash/java) - optional of course
      - Not stealing image associations on windows (already fixed in latest nightlies)

  18. Privacy by paragon_au · · Score: 2, Insightful

    (like by analyzing the content of the email)

    Personally I don't want Google reading/analysing my e-mail. Even if is just some algorithm.

  19. YahooPOPs! -- I'm LOVIN' it !!! by Amsterdam+Vallon · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you have a fairly advanced toolset of software knowledge, you can download YahooPOPs! over on the SoresForge page.

    What is it? Well, YahooPOPs! is an open-source initiative to provide free POP3 and SMTP access to Yahoo! E-mail accounts. It works in both Windoze and Unix.

    What it does is emulate a POP3/SMTP server and enables popular email clients like Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, Mozilla, IncrediMail, Calypso, etc., to DOWNLOAD AND SEND emails from Yahoo! accounts.

    It's amazing, bro. I had NO idea it'd even work. I had to download it to believe it. There are also other similar programs out there for MSN, Lycos, etc.

    No self-respecting webmail user should be WITHOUT it.

    --

    Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
    1. Re:YahooPOPs! -- I'm LOVIN' it !!! by Von+Helmet · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sounds like hotwayd which does much the same thing for Hotmail. I think hotwayd also works for Lycos and a few other webmail providers.

      I've got it set up and it works fine, though it only picks up mail from your inbox, not your junk mail or anything. If you want it picking up from multiple folders you just have to set up multiple copies of the daemon to look in each folder.

  20. The irony... by EvilDrew · · Score: 5, Informative
    The story is about google from the New York Times, and yet somehow the submitter didn't give us the obligatory NYT/google link. ;-)

    Here ya go. (The same article is also available in The Ledger)

  21. You forgot #4 by eWarz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Step 1: Google takes over search engines Step 2: Google takes over webmail services Step 3: Tomorrow - the world! Step 4: Profit!!!!

  22. True, but... by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think that what Yahoo did wrong (boy, I'll bet there are tons of analysts starting sentences the same way) was to try to make a mega-page, to rely on some data that was human-indexed rather than entirely machine-produced, and to fall behind technologically.

    Google doesn't do this.

    * Google is very spartan. I'm glad to see that all the web designers that thought that fancy web pages are what people want have been shown to be wrong. Excuses like "oh, this is for a 'distinctive feel'" or "we won't look up-to-date without Flash", etc, just don't measure up. Google works well on all browsers, has pages that download quickly, and renders very rapidly. The only large image used is the ever-changing "Google" logo, which gives folks a fair amount of enjoyment (well, *I* get more of a kick out of it than any other single image of that size each day). Their ads are text-based, and there are few links on each page. Their page works well in any browser, including lynx. Spartan is in -- web development has matured, and garish pages with faux metal bits and hard-to-find imagemap-based links are out. Functionality matters.

    * All the data that Google presents is produced by a computer, not an array of humans (except for the Directory, which is from dmoz.org, not Google-paid people. They can scale up as far as they want by just increasing their processor power. All their people just figure out how to get the computer to do the right thing. Sure, in the short term that can be a bit less efficient, but it's a big win in the long term.

    * Google doesn't fall behind when it comes to technology. Google is rabid about recruiting PhDs working with automated data mining. They are constantly adding neat little features to find, interesting new experimental searches (Google Sets is my favorite), and do an impressive job for a group of people that have hordes of people trying to beat the engine constantly and are avoiding using any human-based indexing.

    --
    May we never see th
    1. Re:True, but... by addaon · · Score: 4, Funny

      And of course, google provides a lightweight frontend for when the main page is just too heavy.

      --

      I've had this sig for three days.
  23. Um, wait a second here... by Pollux · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let's look at the facts:

    First, there was Google. Beautiful searching. Love it dearly.

    Then, there was Google cache. Beautiful, wonderful idea. Love it dearly.

    Then, there was Google image searches, and News, and it was all still good.

    But adding free mail to it? I'm starting to worry that our at-one-time all-simple, all-powerful, all-effective search engine is becoming (possibly?) another Yahoo? They're already the most widely-used search engine (by far!), but why offer free mail? Leave that to the low-life such as Microsoft and Yahoo.

    Don't get me wrong, Google's seemed to manage everything quite smoothly thus far, and is still a wonderful site to use for everything they've made (besides searching, I use image search and the news listings & searches quite often). But free mail is quite a big undertaking...will they be able to manage it and still stay as good as they are?

  24. that's what the free market is about by kaan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I beleive if Google has decided to go after new business, it would be because they decided to move into a new market, not because they wanted to act in malace against another company.

    That's how every company and every business works in this country. It is for that very reason - direct competition - that we have so many awesome, cool products and services. At the end of the day, consumers want the best value for their dollar, the most choices, the most convenience. It's what a free market is all about.

    So consider this, if Google creates an email service, and Yahoo starts to see some of its customers switch to Google, then Yahoo will be in a position to either a) do nothing, or b) offer something new to make Yahoo an even better service than it was before.

    At the end of the day, if both services are doing a really good job, then they'll split the user base. But if one is really doing a better job than the other, that one will "win" the majority (usually). End-users will have more choices for web-based email, and we'll possibly see other services created to entice us to switch services.

  25. Google MusicSearch? by FsG · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Why's Google wasting its time with an ancient idea like this one when there are truly innovative things out there, waiting to be done? A google search for free music online, for example, would be a major boost to independant artists, and would turn a few heads.

    The point is, they have to be original if they want someone new to notice them, and webmail sure ain't original.

    --
    I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
    1. Re:Google MusicSearch? by mobby_6kl · · Score: 3, Informative

      AltaVista already has (and had for some time now) this feature

  26. doing things well by mr_tommy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To the poster (here) who talked about how Google has done one thing, and done it well - yes- that is very correct. However, that was back in 2000. Searching is something Google is undoubtedly "the daddy" off. They have moved on - groups, image search, directory, news - they are all at the top of their respective content leagues in terms of quality and service.

    Whether or not the NYT article is correct or not doesn't really matter. The plain fact is that Google faces increases competition, and they need to offer more services to maintain their position as number 1. A Google email service is A) cool B) useful for people. As posters before has said, it would probably come quite feature laden, and thus be popular.

  27. oooh now I can finally get by enrico_suave · · Score: 4, Funny

    loismustdie@google.com

    On a serious note: google is very tight lipped about what services they will be launching (until after they launch/beta) so not sure how credible these rumblings are...

    E.

    --
    Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
  28. Will and Could by paragon_au · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There is a huge difference between will and could.

    Admin's could read my e-mail but most likely will not. Especially if they have some privacy policy against it.

    The parent post is pointing out if Google uses targeted advert's they WILL read my e-mail.
    If I decide to subscribe to porn, and then suddenly whenever I got to google.com or google mail I have to deal with porn adverts. Well that isn't going to look too good at work or home.

    Or what if I get an e-mail regarding AIDS, and then I see adverts for AIDS treatment when I visit google, other may see this, realise I have AIDS and then discriminate against me.

    So no, I am not ashamed of what software 'thinks' about me, but I may be adversly affected by the ad's it displays.

  29. Try alltheweb.com by gad_zuki! · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use alltheweb when not using google. Between those two I generally find what I want.

    Alltheweb is a bit more international than google (I believe its hosted in Europe somewhere) and is owned by Overture who sells google lots of search info.

    About us page here.

    They also seem to have a knack for lowering the importance of weblogs, which seems to be a big issue with some people nowadays.

    1. Re:Try alltheweb.com by allgood2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I love all the web. My top three search engines are AlltheWeb, Google, and Kartoo. Google gets the majority of my searches, just because it's built into Safari. But if I'm going in, fknowing that I'm looking for specific results, then I always start with AlltheWeb. I use Kartoo when I want to break results out quickly and visually--come up with more defined search terms, etc.

    2. Re:Try alltheweb.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can generally tell how good a search engine is based on how often it searches.. Alltheweb has always lagged behind in terms on how often they search/how many pages they search/etc - and more importantly how often they come back.

      Here's site stats from one of my sites - a very large site dedicated to clubbing - one interesting thing to note here is that MSN has very recently (this month only) aggresively scanned my site - but will they come back and re-scan alot of those pages? (last visit for microsoft was feb 11th..) - alltheweb hasn't even seen ~20% of the website in all of it's scanning, so how is it supposed to index me? In comparrison, Google comes back every few days (grabbing my main index pages almost nightly, a large percentage of the inner pages at least once/month)

      MSIECrawler 22737
      Googlebot (Google) 15518
      Inktomi Slurp 3410
      Jeeves 2306
      Alexa (IA Archiver) 1731
      Fast-Webcrawler (AllTheWeb) 907
      Lycos 863
      Turn It In 434
      larbin 413
      WISENutbot (Looksmart) 101

      -mark

  30. google spam filters? by beforewisdom · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I was ready to dump yahoo email until they implemented some nice spam filtering tech.

    There are still some things they have not done that they could.

    If google does what it is famous for...being innovative and simple..with spam filtering I will drop yahoo email like Dr. Atkins dropping a hot potato.

    Steve

  31. Found 2 using . . . GOOGLE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Search "Groups" to find:

    Drake (capatan@googlemail.com)
    John (John@googlemail.com)

    And GOOGLE had to fight to get the domain back:
    (Dated: August 18, 2002)

    http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/11471 2. htm

  32. Google Groups was accompanied by email by IronyChef · · Score: 2, Interesting
    A few years ago Google bought the Deja site, which hosted newsgroup and email service.

    They kept the newsgroups (rebranded as Google Groups), but phased out the email service.

  33. Advertisers figuring out Google by FlyingOrca · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've used Google since Infoseek ceased to be the best, and like everyone else, I've noticed the gradual reduction of relevancy as people figure out how to scam Google for higher placement. Reading about this, I had an idea that is probably not original: Could a search engine be set with Slash-style moderation code, so irrelevant results could be modded down by annoyed users? Is there an engine that does this already?

    --
    Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
    1. Re:Advertisers figuring out Google by Uber+Banker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The trouble with a modertion system is moderation is often wide of the mark. There are some really good mods, some really bad mods, and many mods who may not be experts in a field but moderate what seems correct to them - when they may be wrong. And as Slashdot proves regarding economics, incorrect opinions get modded up when they are incorrect one.

      Moderation is a way to enforce groupthink, not to encourage what is best.

    2. Re:Advertisers figuring out Google by sploxx · · Score: 4, Funny

      > [...] incorrect opinions get modded up [...]

      Hey, can you tell me what an *incorrect opinion* is?

    3. Re:Advertisers figuring out Google by Theolojin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hey, can you tell me what an *incorrect opinion* is?

      sure. as far as i know, my opinions are correct. any opinion contrary to mine, then, is incorrect. see?

      --
      Life is short; think quickly.
  34. Google + Hushmail by ilkahn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If google really wants to do something worthwhile with email, they should go out and purchase hushmail. I happen to be a big fan of their service (web based PGP compatible email!) but I loathe how *few* people actually use encryption in email. If a powerhouse like google offered not just webmail, but *encrypted* webmail, I bet that the conversion rate would be pretty mind-blowing and voila, the huge bump encryption / PGP / GPG needed to get to the point of critical mass.

    Can you imagine a world in which you can say to someone: "what you mean you don't encrypt your emails?" Please make it so google!

    1. Re:Google + Hushmail by ruyon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Skeptical. If people really wanted e-mail encryption, PGP/GPG would have been widely spread and the mail service providers would have already implenented it. But people don't care, so far. It's 'good enough', just as good as Win98.

  35. Another email address by ANTRat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yay i can get another email address! as if i dont have enough with linuxmail, hotmail, yahoo, yourmom.com, playcs.com, etc. just more places for spam to go

  36. Google's current own pr0n search engine by Linuxathome · · Score: 3, Insightful

    http://images.google.com and search with any of the well known Playboy playmate model names.

    --
    Linux at home
  37. You mean like... by Kjella · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why's Google wasting its time with an ancient idea like this one when there are truly innovative things out there, waiting to be done?

    You mean like when they decided to go for the ancient idea of "internet searches"? Altavista, Yahoo etc. weren't exactly whimps when Google came along. I'm not quite sure how Google wants to do better on this one though, free email is pretty much the same boilerplate thing everywhere.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  38. Without Numbers by CGP314 · · Score: 2, Funny

    And a thousand nerds stand by ready to be the first to get gandalf@googlemail.com and billg@googlemail.com.

    -Colin

  39. Yahoo Misses the Point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I use yahoo email, as well as yahoo messenger and have for a long time. The thing is, I never go to yahoo.com for anything. I ignore the little Yahoo insider thing that pops up, I never search with them, I never click on any ads in email. In fact, I only use that email addy for crap that I sign up for online. My real is email is from my own domain, that I never use for signing up to anything. Their thougths of lock-in are dubious. Yahoo could disappear to tomorrow and I would use linuxmail.org for my garbage mail, and MSN, AIM, Jabber, or IRC for chat and never once miss them. Thanks for the free shit, but maybe you should pay more attention to what your services are actually used for. In a word...crap.

    1. Re:Yahoo Misses the Point by subsentio · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's great that you use yahoo mail only for your "crap" emails and have your real email on your own domain. But believe it or not, there's people out there, *billions of them*, who are NOT you. Doesn't that just, like, blow your mind, man! Seriously though, while you personally may not care if Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. disappear, there are millions of other users who rely on them (and would rely on google mail). And that sort of *is* the point.

  40. The trouble with moderation by FlyingOrca · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I agree, and I've seen some [laughable,piteous,ignorant] moderation here. However, if it were limited to RELEVANCE, it might still work even if subjective. Find what you're looking for? Mod it up. Misleading header? Mod it down.

    Just a thought. I'm mostly wondering whether it's been done already.

    --
    Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
    1. Re:The trouble with moderation by alangmead · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've often wondered if Google would do well as taking the clicking of the "Next" link as an implicit lack of confidence in the current pages search and having an abandoned search be an implicit vote of confidence. After all, if you have stopped searching, the current page of search results likely contains a good answer. If you click next, then the current page is likely not to have one.

  41. Why does mail have to be complicated? by brucmack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There are tons of posts here questioning whether Google is losing their way by doing this, but I don't see what the problem is... Mail doesn't have to be complicated, even with integrated virus checking and spam killing software. Just because hotmail and yahoo are extremely bloated, doesn't mean that Google's will be the same way.

    Personally, I hope that they will allow free POP access. That's what got me to open my Geocities mail account, which later turned into Yahoo. Then they made it a pay service and I stopped using it.

  42. Actually, there already is a Google OS by qortra · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I suppose it is folly to make a serious reponse to a post modded "funny", but I should point out that the OS that Google uses to run their servers (a *highly* modified GNU/Linux variant) is usually reffered to as the Google OS since it was designed by them specifically for their server farms (I think anyway). Also, I believe there is a GFS (Google File System, or Gordon Food Services - an entirely unrelated business) which is the distributed file system run at - of course - their server farms.

    1. Re:Actually, there already is a Google OS by ahogue · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google File System paper

    2. Re:Actually, there already is a Google OS by toddestan · · Score: 2, Informative

      It would only be a GPL violation if they distributed the binaries for their Google OS without the source code. Since Google OS is only used internally at Google (as far as I know), then they are not in violation of the GPL.

      Still, it would be pretty neat to see Google OS if you ask me.

  43. Paradigm shift, not duplication needed [Re:I wish] by j.leidner · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ... but I really wish SOMEONE would do some "duplication and evolution;" maybe THAT would light a fire under some a[....]s at [G]oogle.

    Not duplication, revolution is the notion you want: Google was successful because its founders believed in a completely new paradigm, that graph-based methods (PageRank, HITS) could outperform dusty (but effective) vector-space retrieval.

    Many people have a shady intuition of what information retrieval really is ("Um.. yeah, you look the pages up in which the keywords occur"), trivializing the area. Go to any top-500 company and try their site search if you want to have a good laugh.

    What we need is once more something completely different. It still holds that there is more than one way to do it!
    One way is to go ahead and build a distributed indexing scheme (see my earlier posting on this theme), borrowing conepts from SETI@home or Freenet, because an index that cannot be located anywhere cannot be controlled. It might also be a better test-bed for large-scale experiments, but where only few developers want to try out new algorithms ("at home"), using the distributed indices built on distributed, donated diskspace around the world.

  44. I know what my email address will be by DoorFrame · · Score: 2, Funny

    10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0@google.com.

    You can go ahead and try to send email there now, but I haven't quite got it activated yet. Soon though, soon.

    --

    --
    RumorsDaily
  45. Why it's creepy by kindofblue · · Score: 4, Insightful
    If there are targetted ads attached to email, then advertisers or anybody else could pay for certain advertising keywords just to see if people are writing email about it. Some small percentage of them will click on the ad and then the ad sponsor will know something about the contents of your email. Say Microsoft or SCO wants to see if people are talking about linux or about switching to linux. They could bid for keywords like "linux" or "linux AND switch OR switching" (though I don't know if booleans are used in the ad selection). So some curious email readers will click on the ad and thereby will give MS/SCO a quantitive statistical sampling of people talking about switching to linux (or at least using one of the keywords).

    Extrapolate this to any words that somebody would be willing to pay to watch, regarding politics, religion, cults, music, or whatever other creepy corners your paranoia guides you to.

    The important difference between targetting ads to web pages vs email is that web pages are designed for wide publication. The contents of email is usually meant to be private.

  46. Usability by MochaMan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ok, I'm a software developer, I've got a bookshelf full of cryptography books and one lying at my bedside. But... until a mail client or webmail service makes encrypted email just as easy as regular email it's not worth my time.

    By "easy" I mean that I should literally have to do nothing to use it. If I have to create a keypair it should be when I sign up, and I shouldn't have to ever need to think about it again. I should have a "send encrypted" button beside the "send" button or a preference. I shouldn't have to get my friends to mail me their public keys, the service/client should obtain them automatically somehow. Essentially I shouldn't have to do a single thing more difficult than today's webmail services.

    I really don't have anything top secret enough to say to my friends that I would find value in encrypted mail. The huge inconvenience that is the current state of encrypted mail just isn't worth it to me... and it definitely won't be to my mum, or non-tech friends.

    However, if someone can do encrypted mail without any added inconveniences, I will be the first to sign up.

    1. Re:Usability by FsG · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I really don't have anything top secret enough to say to my friends that I would find value in encrypted mail.

      It's that mindset that keeps encrypted email from becoming a standard, and there is a major flaw in it. The real reason for encrypting everything is not so much to protect your photo collection or personal emails, but to completely cripple anyone (NSA, perhaps?) who would want to intercept everyone's email.

      Currently, there are very few people using encryption for email, so if the NSA notices that Joe Geek is, they might suspect that he has something to hide and start throwing massive computing resources at cracking his private key. However, if absolutely everyone was encrypting their email, no privacy-invading government org would know whose email to even begin decrypting. Thus, we'd all be safe.

      --
      I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
    2. Re:Usability by Mathi�u · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is a GREAT client which makes encryption/signing very easy: Apple Mail! I am using a personnal certificate from Thawte (which is free, multiplatforms, easy to create if you find a good step-by-step guide with Google). Once you get your certificate, you insert it in Apple Keychain (which is the system wide program to manage your passwords and supports locking). You can then sign emails and encrypt for those people whom you have the public key. Try it ;).

    3. Re:Usability by MochaMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's that mindset that keeps encrypted email from becoming a standard

      Oh I agree with you 100%. But neither I nor 99% of other users out there are part of the tinfoil hat crowd - the so-called benefit to civilisation that would be provided by encrypting all my mail just isn't worth the inconvenience to 99% of people.

      And while I have a strong interest in cryptography from a mathematical and theoretical point of view, I also have a personal belief in openness and a dislike of secrecy. Like most people I know, I leave my doors unlocked so my friends can drop by whenever they like. I trust people enough not to walk in and steal my stuff when I'm not looking, and in almost 30 years, I have never once had this trust violated.

      In any case, the attitude I have toward cryptography is almost universal; it's simply not worth the effort. One could argue that the attitude of distrust that people have of each other is the mindset that keeps so may people locked up in their houses, afraid of terrorists and bad guys. And yes, in the end, the government is just a big group of people too; some good, some not so good.

  47. Re:Office XP flaw by cookiepus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am not sure how "insightful" this is.

    Webmail services are not meant to be checked with a mail reader - but with a browswer. MS has hacked something together to make Outlook work w. Hotmail, but that's an exception. Outlook won't be able to check Yahoo mail or your ISP's webmail (though your ISP probably offers POP, which Outlook will gladly check) except through some 3rd party webmail-to-pop utilities.

    If Google wants people to use any reader of their choosing to check their e-mail, they will open POP accounts which no "bug" in XP will keep from being accessible.

    If Google follows the pattern that Yahoo has - ie, you only get POP when you pay the subscription fee, otherwise use the webmail interface - then it won't work w. Outlook (or Thunderbird or any of them).

    Hope this clarifies the magic of e-mail a bit. ;-)

    --
    Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
  48. Blogger perhaps.... by Sophrosyne · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Maybe they will just add a free e-mail service to blogger...
    it makes sense that they would want to draw more users to their blogger service and provide more web-services through that brand (and in turn sell more ads).
    I personally cannot see them bloating up google.com, but you never know.

  49. If you don't want blogs in your results; HOW TO by MikeCapone · · Score: 5, Informative

    They also seem to have a knack for lowering the importance of weblogs, which seems to be a big issue with some people nowadays.

    Here's a simple way to get most blogs out of your results in google or any other search engine (personally I use Gigablast as my primary):

    Type search query plus "-blog"

    Et voila!

    Of course it can't help it if some pages are ranked high because they are linked from blogs, but I don't think that anything from the user-side can change that.

    --
    Treehugger? Treehugger... Treehugger!
  50. What about... by ceeam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will the Google's mail service have "I feel lucky" button instead of the "To:" field?

  51. Yahoo tracks your clicks by Via_Patrino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yahoo tracks your clicks, I don't like that redirect thing, it's much more intrusive than google and the others that make direct links.

    And I'm pretty sure Yahoo is using Google engine again (I get the same results).

    1. Re:Yahoo tracks your clicks by Prior+Restraint · · Score: 2, Funny

      Since when is "It doesn't cost anything" a get-out-of-jail-free card? I can just see it now:

      "You're getting their service for free and you're concerned that they are mulching babies to power their servers? WTF?"

  52. Re:Internal link/redirect by hazem · · Score: 4, Informative

    The way it works (I believe!) is that once you've done your search, all of the search result hyperlinks go through a redirect on google.com.

    That is how Yahoo! seems to work, but not Google. For example, if I search for "Slashdot" on Google, I get this as the first link (right-click, copy link location):
    "http://slashdot.org/"

    in Yahoo!, I get:
    "http://rds.yahoo.com/S=2766679/K=slashdot/v =2/SID =e/l=WS1/R=1/H=0/MI=other/*-http://rdre1.yahoo.com /click?u=http://www.slashdot.org/&y=028A85020D5FD4 C2&i=482&c=8540&q=02%5ESSHPM%5BL7ls~lw%7Bpk6&e=utf -8&r=0&d=wow-en-us&n=E9D45H3DU8S41MO9&s=1306&t=&m= 4038FB5A&x=01914BFE9E6908BB"

    When Yahoo! started doing that is when I stopped using Yahoo.

    From looking at these results, I don't think Google really has any idea what links I selected.

  53. Unbloated Yahoo Search Page by Jman314 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Yahoo!'s bloat-fest

    I hate it too. However, Yahoo's Search Page is not nearly as cluttered.

  54. Re:Internal link/redirect by Adam9 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah, it happens on Google, just not as cluttered.

    Taken from a search for Slashdot:

    <a href=/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://slashdot.org/&e=74 17>

  55. Google as Coca- Cola by Jaffanator · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The reasons Google could/should launch an email service is the brand that they have created. As all the posts here corroborate, the Google as a brand is respected both in the tech community as well as the main stream, which is one of the reasons it is so successful. So even if it launches a free email service, its own branding power, regardless of features will draw many users there.

    Now if Google reigns in its business and marketing departments to keep the mail free of extraneous features and ad-attacks err. advertising, it will be more successful than Yahoo! and/or Hotmail purely by that feature alone. However if it becomes another advertising saturated free email service it will just be another player in the market not a dominant one.

    The reason that Yahoo! and MSN have turned into bloated portals is the same reason that Google is drawn create other services (froogle, images, ect.) to keep users in and use the power of their brands to hold users within their marketing umbrella. It's only too easy to add links and 'portal' type features to any popular web page for commercial reasons, which is the trap that Google must not fall into.

    --
    Interested in Sports with a brain? --> http://dispatchesofj.blogspot.com/
  56. How Google's email will work by Aspherical+Cow · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to a friend of a friend (I know, I know), Google email will place targeted advertisements in the email based on the content of the email! They plan to convince everyone that the data will not be kept, stored, or used after the ad has been placed. Why would people choose google over yahoo, hotmail, etc? They are offering 1GB of storage for free! Yes, one gigabyte for every user.

    1. Re:How Google's email will work by Sri+Lumpa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      1GB per Google Mail user: Yeah, right.

      Sure, it's possible that Google will give up to 1GB per user = 1TB per 1000 users = 1PetaByte per million of user, but it does seem VERY unlikely.

      Not that I wouldn't like seeing that if you are right.

      --
      "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
  57. remember that DEJA had free-email ... by porky_pig_jr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    but when Google adequiared DEJA, they've dropped this feature. Granted, DEJA had some deficiencies, and in particular usenet group search was atrocious. Now of course deja search is excellent, and so e-mail is coming back as well. Nice ...Since I spend lots of time on deja, it will be quite natural for me to use google e-mail as well (and probably many of the former deja users will do the same)

  58. Yahoo's manual effort has been dead for some time by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Most of the people who used to catalog web pages now place paid listings or do other gruntish (but revenue-driven) work. Its been this way for probably three years now.

    Don't be so naive though to think Google is a room of computers. When people write in to complain about kiddie porn, removal requests, etc, this must be handled by a person, just like at any search site.