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Yahoo Ups Mail to Match Google's Gig

Bruce Young writes "Yahoo said late Tuesday that it will provide 1 gigabyte of storage for each free e-mail account. The current limit is 250 megabytes. The expanded storage which will be available in mid-April will enable Yahoo to catch up with online search engine leader Google. "

19 of 366 comments (clear)

  1. I don't have a yahoo account... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    what are the ads like for a yahoo email account? by comparison, is google much better (because of the tame text ads?)

  2. Yahoo vs Google? by davidmcg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yahoo have apparently denied that it is trying to beat Google at it's own game but said that it reflected the way subscribers are using email...umm, sure...we believe you..

  3. Competition = Great for the masses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    This is why competition is a good thing. Because of this, Microsoft and Yahoo upped their free webmail service to huge amounts of storage.

    This is cool.

  4. No more sticks? by Diakoneo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    GMAIL and Yahoo! mail have so much storage, I hear people are giving up on carrying around USB sticks and just using HTTP mail. I haven't heard of any security breaches where someone has had access to any appreciable number of files stored on their sites, but I suppose it's just a matter of time.

    --
    "Well..here I am..." - Jubal Early
  5. Yahoo File System? by Robotech_Master · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wonder if the fellow who wrote the Gmail File System will do an adaptation...

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  6. Attachment limit by psychoandy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is the attachment size limit going to change?

  7. Yahoogle? May be better... with Firefox & Adbl by xtracto · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seriously, I only use Gmail as my email account but I use Yahoo's calendar and, I have been tempted to start using my account for emails.

    here is The Register story, they add that paying customers will get 2 GB! (and also they extra family accounts), and it will now disinfect your attachments if they have viruses (it previously only scanned and warned you).

    --
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    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  8. This news means more than you think by the_mutha · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The fact that is has taken Yahoo this long to play catch-up says a lot more than we may initially think. Many argue that the secret to Google's success is its highly adaptable and powerfull hardware architecture. They can increase their storage capacity very quickly just by adding more machines to its cluster. Yahoo has nowhere near the same adaptability as Google.

  9. Re:Failure is imminent. by dsginter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They still won't be as good as Google.. stop trying!

    I disagree from a business perspective.

    Lots of people will stay with yahoo mail because it is difficult to switch. If there is no benefit, then there is little reason to make the switch in the first place.

    Competition is good. Now, they will start competing on other features and the consumer wins in the end.

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    More
  10. Google catch-up TODO list by DogDude · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In order for me to consider GMail, here are a few things that I need:
    • Fully integrated address book that synchronizes with Outlook and PDA's
    • Fully integrated calendar that synchronizes with Outlook and PDA's and that can send my cell phone/pager alerts and reminders
    • A generica area for storing files that have nothing to do with email (Yahoo's Briefcase)
    • Personalized weather, news, stock information, music station, movie listings, etc.
    • Integrated messenger
    • Integrated message boards (Yahoo Groups)
    • Ability to make my own customized web page that accesses all of the above information
    • NOT data mine my email

      • And that's just a start.
    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  11. Size doesn't matter by jbarr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's the functionality. To me, Gmail is more "stealthy" in its approach. It's just slick, fast, and doesn't force itself on me. "Labels" are truely innovative and implemented very well. "Search" is extremely flexible and useful. It is these features that help leverage the 1GB of storage into a really great tool.

    Now, I admit that Yahoo does offer a very nice email service, and its features are very complete, but I simply cannot stand the ads. Gmail's unobtrusive ads are far better from a user's perspective.

    Now, if Google would only fix their damned Forward function. If I receive a Rich Tect formatted or HTML formatted email, Gmail WILL NOT FORWARD IT without mangling the formatting (ie: it only forwards plain text.) This single problem prevents me from recommending Gmail to less-than-tech-savvy people, and unfortunatly, complaints and suggestions have fallen on deaf ears....

    -Jim
    GmailTips.com

    --
    My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
  12. Re:you think so? by BitterAndDrunk · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I've felt like the Google interface is wasted in my hands. . . I just don't know how to use it effectively.
    I'm so accustomed to arranging things into folders, and I can't for the life of me create any sort of organization in my Gmail box, and must resort to using the search tool to find anything.

    Any tips on optimizing my Gmail experience? (I'm serious, any interface tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated)

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    You better watch out, there may be dogs about . . .
  13. My Prescience Preceeds Me! ;P by eno2001 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In my ongoing rail against the glossy waste of paperWired Magazine I get miffed about their anti-Google piece in last month's edition. This is just further proof to me that Yahoo! doesn't have much to offer other than a goofy logo, lackluster services and that stupid yodle. Here's a tip Yahoo!: It's not just the 1 Gig mail capacity that has people excited about GMail. It's the ultralight and very powerful UI design and feature set of their webmail application. Back when Yahoo! was riding high, the only other thing they had going for them was lots of venture capital. Always remember this rule: lots of venture capital does not guarantee success, a decent product, or sensible use of that capital. Always put your money on people who have actually produced something valuable.

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    -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  14. The only? by hendridm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the CNN summary - " Company will join Google's Gmail as the only Web mail providers to offer 1GB of in-box storage."

    Emphasis mine. I'll have to tell my webmail provider that they apparently aren't offering what they say they are, being that Google and Yahoo are the only ones.

  15. Re:So "FU" Mail Plus users? by eclectic4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I sent a 515 MB graphic file (hi-res, obviously) to my wife just yesterday via Gmail. I use it as an easy file transfer means for large files. Knowing that yahoo limits to 20 MB makes it unuseable for me. No way in hell.

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    "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
  16. Hey! Don't Count Yahoo Out! by duerra · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There's a lot of posts here about how Gmail is much better because of its UI. While I readily admit the great implementation of the conversation views, the shortcut keys, the clean interface, the fast searching, and all the other little things that makes GMail a really great product, keep in mind that many of these things are web-specific implementations.

    Google has done very well with their web interface, but also remember that Yahoo offers obscene amounts of services linked to your one Yahoo ID that Google just plain can't compete with at this point. The integration that Yahoo has with their vast array of services, in my mind, makes up for some of the email-specific things that they are currently lacking. For example, the ability for Yahoo to send you an SMS message when you have a new email, or when you have an appointment scheduled. Or maybe you'd prefer an email on that appointment - they will do that, too. Yahoo integrates everything it does very well - integration with Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Games, etc.

    I'm not condemning Google by any means, but I do think that some of the views expressed on this article about Yahoo are somewhat shallow in their insights. Yahoo can, and no doubt will, continue to improve their mail service above the new 1GB storage. And Google will continue to develop all of those services that Yahoo is already offering. Either way, it's win-win for all of us.

  17. Yahoo will still be inferior to GMail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Perhaps one of you Egg-heads, and I say that with nothing but admiration, can explain why GMail filters spam so much better than Yahoo. On one of my GMail accounts I have made every attempt to have it flooded with spam, yet almost no unsolicited emails reach the Inbox--few appear in the junk mail for that matter. I've signed up for everything imaginable using this account on sites known to sell email addresses. What gives?

  18. Yahoo China by Eddy+Da+KillaBee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When Gmail started to become popular months ago, I couldn't find a place to get an invite and didn't know anyone who would give me one. I somehow ran into Yahoo China, and at the time they were offering 1GB of email space, while Yahoo over here was offering 250 MB.

    Altavista is your best friend!

  19. Competence vs, Incompetence by z0l0pht · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There are advantages to having both Yahoo and GMail. Personally, I have accounts with both services. I use Yahoo primarily for signing up for forums, sites; basically anything that would give me spam. When it comes to mail I actually want to read, I head straight for GMail. I have the GMail notifier set up to tell me when new mail is in my inbox, and I have configured Thunderbird to pick up all of my mail for me. There's really not much of a better setup, as far as mail goes. If I need a file stored, I get off my lazy ass and email it to myself, rather than sticking in in Yahoo Briefcase, because frankly I don't like having everything spoon fed to me. Messages I send do not have advertisements appended to them, I don't have to dodge banners to read my mail, and my spam filter has caught every piece to date. Oh, having POP3 without having to install third-party software is nice too. That being said, Yahoo offers an incredibly easy interface, and anyone using it that feels challenged by it will probably not need the 250 MBs of storage, let along a gig. Yahoo is for the technologically retarded, and fatcat techie wannabes.