Here’s some speculation from Line56.com about Gmail’s move. They quote some views of Google from people who don’t like it so much.
Line56.com: Gmail Going Wider: “Gmail has officially been in Beta for nearly 23 months. ‘They shouldn’t play this silly hide-and-seek game forever,’ says independent analyst Sabbaq Ahmed. ‘What’s the point of it? The hype is almost over.’Google has not disclosed when Gmail will go public.
Last week Line56 discussed some of Gmail’s potential in a small and medium-sized business (SMB) context. While the threading and search features have a lot of value to those interested in basic contact, content, and customer management, Ahmed points out that the absence of certain other features disqualifies Gmail (as currently configured) from being a solid business-class solution. ‘They don’t have antivirus protection, there’s no notes feature, and it is tedious to download e-mails straight into your hard drive,’ he says. The absence of antivirus protection is important given the security emphasis currently dominating the marketplace.”
I don’t think they were trying to build a “business class” solution – not for free anyway. And man, who doesn’t like POP-email? Besides the fact that you don’t have to use if if you don’t want to – having an extra mailbox with a 1GB space limit is very handy for short business trips where you know a computer will be provided at your destination. Leave your laptop home and email yourself the files you need if you’ll only be gone a day.
But hey, Gmail isn’t for everyone. Try it for yourself, and then decide, I say…
