GMail seems to be issuing hundreds and hundreds of invitations. Eventually anyone who wants an account will be able to get one from an invitation from one of their friends. I was wondering if by not making GMail "Public" google can somehow bypass some of the privacy laws. It seems that there is some other motive than testing to give this many accounts.

Discuss.

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WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUT!
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It's also giving them tons of publicity.

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MadQuack has a signature.

What the heck is Gmail? I haven't cared enough to go find out for myself... but since its all over these forums now, what is it?

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"Guns don't kill people, I kill people."

Clearly they are close to the end of testing. And look how many people are already using GMail thanks to invites. Already people are seeing the ads, and it isn't even completely open yet!

This type of system worked nicely for Orkut and Friendster and Livejournal (who seem to have removed this system it seems?) because those services are really aimed at a community network of friends and people that have no friends are probably not likely to use the system the way it was intended.
Gmail is an e-mail service, and there are plenty of people who won't have friends on the internet or friends with Gmail accounts that want to use a Gmail account legitimately, like the blokey that just bought a computer and modem and signed on to google for the first time.

It works great for now, especially with people selling sex for invites, but I don't think it's sensible for public release.

It's google's web-based email service. It rocks. 'Nuff said.

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

Maybe Gmail uses a selected amount of people to "see" what type of users may be using this email service. Then, by examining what type of emails this group of people sent/receive and how they use the service, Google is able to give information about certain people (like their email address and internet habits) to other companies for a profit (and/or to show if the ad companies are making an impact with their ad campaigns). Ad companies love to get their hands on a list of email address and other info for future customers.

Maybe, for examble, GBK says in his email, "I love Microsoft. I need more of their products NOW!" Gmail could scan through his emails and find words or phrases like Microsoft. Google then could put his email address on a list of Microsoft "future customers" and ships it to the company for a profit. By using an invitation system, Google can use a smaller range of internet users to find what products or ads the public might want.

A theory I guess. :/

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)

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The Massassi JO/JA Single Player contest info

Well basically it is a really good test for their servers, especially load wise. It eases them into the userbase, without jumping in. Plus the factor that the invites increases exponentially means that their server load will always increase, until they are sure it will be fine.

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"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice, but is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me."
I am addicted to ellipses!!! AHHH!!! ...
Make Sorrowind Worthwhile... join it! http://sorrowind.net

I think they've specifically said that they don't sell e-mail addresses to companies.
The way the system works is more like.. if you recieve an e-mail from GBK saying "I love Microsoft!" then the banner in your inbox will display an ad for something Microsoft. I don't think Microsoft themselves have anything to do with either your or GBK's e-mail addresses, but they do send a list of keywords and related stuffs to Google.

More the email services I have the better.

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<landfish> FastGamerr > Satan

i just hope by the time i get some invites to give out they are still worth something to enough ebay users to actually get more people looking at and bidding on the 2 saturn games i am trying to sell

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LONG LIVE DREAMCAST!!!

They said that? Hmm. I guess my theory is out (I think).

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Snail racing: (500 posts per line)

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The Massassi JO/JA Single Player contest info

Well, it's not really a thing specific to Gmail. I mean, Hotmail or Yahoo could be selling out e-mail addresses just as easily.

The big 'controvesy' is that Gmail don't delete e-mails from their servers (allegedly).

Well, since tons of people are gonna use it when it's public, and they need to test it for massage storage, it makes sense that the beta has LOTS of people in it...

You can delete messages with Gmail. I've deleted 3 already.

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Because you're as bored as I am
"This world is made of love and peace!"
"Let's live today, let's live tomorrow, and let's live the day after that, even if it means living in eternal pain."
- Vash the Stampede

I think maybe they stay on the server forever, probably as part of the advertising. The advertising by the way, is supposed to show only relevant text advertisements. If it was done right, it could actually be useful.

It doesn't matter if Google keeps every e-mail in their servers (you'd think they would prune eventually), as long as you aren't doing anything incredibly secure. If you're an everyday user, GMail is great. If you're a terrorist trying to have a secure convo with somone across the world, go somewhere else.

Oh, and does GMail support IMAP or POP3 for external clients? If so, I would be interested in using it. If not, then I'll stick with fastmail.fm.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

I think they've said that they don't support POP3 & IMAP at the moment, but are going to.

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<landfish> FastGamerr > Satan

I want to see the kinds of ads you get if you start organising terrorist activities over GMail

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Because you're as bored as I am
"This world is made of love and peace!"
"Let's live today, let's live tomorrow, and let's live the day after that, even if it means living in eternal pain."
- Vash the Stampede

Sweet, it would be worth getting then.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

AK-47's

Special price in Russia--buy an AK-47, get the next half-off!

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There is no signature

[This message has been edited by Dj Yoshi (edited June 24, 2004).]

I was told that 'dodgy' subjects would return no adverts at all.


So you can guess what I'll be having in my signature.

If a tree falls in the forest and noone is around to hear it... does it make a sound?

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<Outlaw_Torn> you mean your related to that damned sasquatch, Mech?
<MechWarrior> Lets just say the part of the family tree that does fork has bossy the goat in it.

<ubuu> does hitler have a last name?

If a sound is defined as perception of sound waves, then no.

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Bassoon, n. A brazen instrument into which a fool blows out his brains.

but if you use the definition "vibrations through the air" then yes, it does make a sound.

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WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUT!
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sound
n.

1. Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of hearing.
2. Transmitted vibrations of any frequency.
3. The sensation stimulated in the organs of hearing by such vibrations in the air or other medium.
4. Such sensations considered as a group.

(from dictionary.com)

Well, if you take definitions #1 and #2, then yes, the tree makes a sound. However, with #3 and #4, it doesn't make a sound.

I do believe the more pertinent question is "If a man is in a forest and says something, and no woman is around to hear him, is he still wrong?"


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"May your gravity well be shallow, and your deBroglie wavelength short."

GMail must be doing something right since Hotmail and Yahoo put GMail invitations into the junk folder (I don't know what Yahoo calls its spam folder thingy).

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[="Mothers stop cooking take off your aprons; Fathers stop looking at every sports station; Take a second, and think of every poor nation." - Nas=]

Massassian since: March 12, 2001

I have Opera, and the "Text Ads" are google searches on the theme of the website...

Right now, one of them is: "Star Wars Jedi Knight" Shop for Computer Games! Find, Compare, and Buy!

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"Bantha's are filthy animals.......I don't eat filthy animals."

"Laugh it up Fuzzball!"
-Han Solo

Well, Opera isn't really supported by GMail yet. It may be because it sucks, but I dunno.

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"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice, but is determined by the conscious decisions of you and me."
I am addicted to ellipses!!! AHHH!!! ...
Make Sorrowind Worthwhile... join it! http://sorrowind.net

It is hard to gauge how many people use Opera because it can identify as any other browser, so it would bump up the stats of some other browser (usually IE), so it appears that very few people use it.

not directly

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LONG LIVE DREAMCAST!!!

Mozilla/Firefox can also spoof its useragent, ad can Konqueror. For the longest time, my useragent was "GBK was here. :)"...

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Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.
:wq

I could just imagine in the usage statistics

IE - 60%
Firefox - 30%
Opera - 9.9999%
GBK was here - .0001%

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There is no signature