I got Gmail!!! Thanks to a kind soul (who I will not name here, for fear that they'll get mobbed by others to whom they did not send an invite!). Here are some initial thoughts - I have used it for just about one day.
The interface is fast (Google style) but the elements are confusing to start with. The first thing you see is a mail from the Gmail team in your inbox that welcomes you and states that "Gmail is different". It goes on to explain some new features.
I tried archiving the Gmail welcome message and it just disappeared. There's no "Archive" folder. But your message is there (you can check by clicking "All Mail").
You don't have any folders other than "Inbox", "Starred", "Sent Mail", "Spam" and "Trash". Which means all mail you get either remains in your "inbox", gets "starred" (sort of like flags on Outlook), goes into the "spam" box, is "trashed" or is "archived" (in which case it disappears into a blackhole but is still around if you search for it or click "All Mail"). As far as I could see there was no way you could create any new folders. This is a new paradigm to managing your email (atleast I haven't seen this in any desktop or web-based product). And it would take some getting used to. But once you get used to it, you don't need to pull your hair out managing folders and sub-folders. Just archive or star it, don't bother where it is stored, its available for you when you search. And the search is good (Google style, again). BTW there's no "Empty trash", if you want to delete a message or a "conversation" (sort of like Outlook 2003) you need to select that message or thread and then use the dropdown to delete. Once deleted it goes to "trash" from where it is not emptied, unless you really want to remove it permanently (which is "Delete forever").
And if your inbox is empty there's a neat link to "Google News" (got no mail? read news!).
One thing you notice here is that Gmail discourages you from deleting messages. OK so why not delete? Everyone likes to have an clean desk or inbox. But Google's strategy on ads depends mainly on you having as much as mail as possible in your account. This allows Gmail's programs to scan and deliver relevant ads to you over a period of time (like the Adwords ads you get when you search for stuff on the Google site). This also explains why the 1GB - more email for Gmail to munch on, the better the ad targeting that it can deliver.
An interesting thing I noticed was that when I was reading the Gmail welcome message it showed me ads for other services that were offering 1GB (and in one case even 10GB) email space. Ofcourse in this case the ads were all for priced services whereas Gmail is free. But imagine sending a quote to a client that has a Gmail account and that client sees an ad for a competitor's product or service?
Being a new user to blogs as well, I see some similarities between the way the Gmail messages and blogs are displayed (atleast on blogger.com). Some things I find in common are that both Gmail messages and blogger message talk of message times in terms of "x hours ago" (e.g. "1 hour ago"). Which is probably more easily understood than the "mm/dd/YYYY, hh:mm am/pm" that we normally get to see. And when you an email it shows the subject line of that email on the browser window, which probably makes it easier to locate when you have multiple messages open (the "New window" option next to a message is neat, it allows you to detach the current message and display it in a new window so that you can continue browsing through other messages in the main window).
Google's strategy for Gmail seems good. They're first of all making it a privilege. I remember long ago when American Express cards were available only to a select few. You went through strict scrutiny and it was something of a status symbol to flaunt an AMEX card. Ofcourse its different nowadays, I get new credit cards in the mail without even having to ask for it. "Just complete up the form and mail it back to us stating that you wish to use the enclosed card".
So Gmail is by invitation only. That allows Gmail to also test the waters and ensure they don't overload their systems - overloading happened at Yahoo when it recently announced an increase in the email space. But I basically believe web-mail providers should not rush into this "GB" race without analysing why Google is offering so much space for free (see above for my thoughts).
So Google now has search, blogs, email and social networking (orkut.com, is again by invitation only) covered. And it has tons of technologies in its lab. Could it be the next Microsoft? It could be perhaps. The $105 to $138 for the IPO they are contemplating could be the start of it all.
I'm wondering - blogger.com does not seem to say anything about the total space alloted for my blog. Does that I mean I could use unlimited space? (maybe I'm missing something) I could then create private password protected blogs for each person or persons that I want to communicate with and use that instead of email. I would then have gazillion GBs of space plus the other neat stuff that blogs offer. Hmm, thats something that I will experiment with soon.
All this talk of blogs takes me back to the "good ol' days" (someone who will only be known as "dimbu" just set me thinking on this now)
My first brush with cyberspace started in 1991 (or thereabouts) when Compuserve started offering access to its online service in India. I used to visit this book store in Chennai that had access, and download stuff from Compuserve on to floppies (CD-Rs were a distant dream those days!).
Then came the flurry of Bulletin Board Services (BBS) that set up shop to serve modem enthusiasts (Alok Chitnis in Bangalore, Kishore Bhargava in Delhi, Suchit Nanda in Bombay, and so on). PC Quest magazine came out with its own BBS in Delhi. Back then, I got myself a 2400bps US Robotics modem (a gift from my uncle when he came to visit us from the USA!) and started cranking up the STD bills dialing into Bangalore and Delhi.
Then Suchit established the LiveWire! BBS in Chennai sometime around 1993. And I was on it as one of its first users, and soon I found myself managing the BBS node at Chennai. BTW that BBS has transmogrified over time into what I now do for a living.
On these BBS's we had message boards where one could chat on different topics. I cherish those BBS days - chatting and debating stuff with tons of other (interesting) people! Well, now you have websites and we are all zombies browsing from one page to the other - to a large extent the Internet has replaced the TV rather than provide an engaging medium for people to interact and debate. I hope blogs change that some day.
And if you're wondering - I don't have any Gmail invites yet. You can be sure I will announce it here when I do!
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