04-18-2007, 01:48 AM

Ok, this whole G-Mail thing just confuses me. What is it? How is it better than its alternatives? Is it like a regular E-mail account? I have been wanting to get a new account for a while now, so I am just trying to learn more about this Gmail I keep hearing about.

04-18-2007, 01:57 AM

Well 2Gb of free storage is pretty good for starters. I wouldn't upload anything of any private nature but I use it to back up things like my bookmarks and some photos which are in no way personal. You can video chat from your Gmail account. So while I do use my Gmail account for emailing friends, Mail.app remains my first and foremost choice of email client. You can PM me if you want a Gmail invite.

04-18-2007, 01:57 AM

Unlimited storage you never have to delete anything and its free and very reliable

04-18-2007, 02:37 AM

Another thing is that it's fast. You don't have to worry about banners taking up huge chunks of your screen. Also, its search capabilities are really great, which can be really useful when trying to find that one email amongst hundreds (it searches the text within, which is what makes it so great).

Gmail is also email client friendly, so you can set it up in Mail.app or Thunderbird. This is great because now I have a copy of all my emails on my computer. Though if I want to search through them, I'll use the web client since Google's searching ability is better than Thunderbird's.

04-18-2007, 02:53 AM

You do however get a lot of spam, well i personally do anyway.
Mostly offering my viagra?
or someone emailing me saying they have moved house with a jpg file attached and i get that about 20 times to.
Other than that its a great email to have.

You can PM me if you want a Gmail invite.

I havnt used any of my invites, so feel free to PM me.

04-18-2007, 03:04 AM

Gmail is my main client. I used to have one with my service provider, but I've moved around a lot lately and figured that something like Gmail would be great. And it is... Tons of storage, a great calendar function that you can share with other useds, it's totally customizable and you can even chat through it to other gmail users. You can easily set your email client with gmail as it is pop friendly and gives you simple instructions on how to do it.

Also, with your gmail account you can set up a fully featured customizable home page which lets you add "google gadgets" with click and drag ease, it's a lot like dashboard. There's a docs and spreadsheets tool that allows you to upload word docs so that you can work on them from where ever you are, no matter what computer you're on. It works seamlessly with blogger, and you can upload images to a picassa web album.

As far as I'm concerned, gmail and it's bits and peices is one of the best tools available for free today. And so far I haven't had a lot of spam, and its filter puts it into a spam folder.

That's all I have to say about that.

04-18-2007, 03:20 AM

Xyphos,

You might want to consider the following first:

Privacy Subtleties of Gmail

Google's GMail Highlights General Privacy Concerns

04-18-2007, 03:22 AM

Originally Posted by Kash

Another thing is that it's fast. You don't have to worry about banners taking up huge chunks of your screen. Also, its search capabilities are really great, which can be really useful when trying to find that one email amongst hundreds (it searches the text within, which is what makes it so great).

Gmail is also email client friendly, so you can set it up in Mail.app or Thunderbird. This is great because now I have a copy of all my emails on my computer. Though if I want to search through them, I'll use the web client since Google's searching ability is better than Thunderbird's.

That's why i like it too.
If I ever delete an email from Mail.app, I don't worry because I know all I have to do is search the web gmail to find it again

04-18-2007, 03:23 AM

Hmm, it sounds pretty cool. So, you have to be invited to have an account? Thats very interesting. I am using AOL right now, and i am looking to switch to another Email provider. If not Gmail, any suggestions?

04-18-2007, 03:25 AM

Mail.app is very good.

04-18-2007, 03:29 AM

Now, could someone explain the difference between POP3 and IMAP and why they are relevant?

04-18-2007, 04:17 AM

IMAP is the better choice when you would like to check your mail from multiple computers, at work and home, for example.

POP3 works by reviewing the inbox on the mail server, and downloading the new messages to your computer. IMAP downloads the headers of the new messages on the server, then retrieves the message you want to read when you click on it.

When using POP3, your mail is stored on your Mac. When using IMAP, the mail is stored on the mail server. Unless you copy a message to a "Local Folder" the messages are never copied to your Mac.

04-18-2007, 04:55 AM

I've had Gmail for about 1 1/2 years now and am very glad I changed (But I was with Mail.com before this so anything would have been an improvement!).
It's great for all the reasons stated above but I do get a lot of spam. Last time I left the spam folder to grow it reached over 450 in under 30 days - BUT - the spam filter is very good and only 1 or 2 of those messages appeared in my inbox and the rest were filtered, so it isn't an issue at all. Also I don't think you need an invite at all any longer, if you do then let me know and I'll send you one.

04-18-2007, 06:58 AM

I still have 99 Invites. I like gmail alot.

04-18-2007, 07:28 AM

I use GMail with Mail.app so I don't have to worry about Ads and I also don't have to worry (i think) about Privacy as they are only stored temporarily on there Servers before being transferred to my Mac.