I've got 4...

[francis]

Gmail invites for the first 4 people who ask me very nicely.

[Tom]

Francis, I think you are wonderful (esp. if you have a pocketful of Gmail invites).

Tom

[francis]

Heh!

I've been wanting a Gmail invite for a while and managed to get one this afternoon. I have to invite you via email, and I only have your Uni address. Invites have to be activated with 3 weeks - are you picking up mail from that address (t.turner@gre.ac.uk)? If not, email me with a different address and I'll invite you that way.

+++++

Later...

Cool - Gmail has threaded email (apparently - I've yet to receive anything, but have sent a few!). Thunderbird has that as well - it's so handy, all mails in one thread (ie subject) get lumped together in one expandable 'tree'. This means not having to move around your inbox/folder to find emails related to each other, just click the + sign to get the originall mail and all replies. Makes Outlook/Express look positively basic :D

And you can import your address list into Gmail via a CSV export from your normal email client.

[Tom]

When the University email server is working (4-5 days/week) I pick up the mail several times/day. Through inertia I have kept on using Outlook - and I hate it. So I have been thinking about a subscription to Spamwasher but doubt their permanence. I like the idea of getting back to the early-email days when you only have one account and you can safely tell people what it is. Do you think its worth the extra money for ad-free Gmail? I've an idea I would find the choice of adverts entertaining. Say I write to David about marks. Will I get adverts from retailers of old German coins?

[francis]

You'll have to wait and see! The adverts are quite unobtrusive and the ones that I've seen so far have come under the header of "related pages" but link to CNN articles, web site promotion tools and the like. Anyway, your invite has been sent to your uni address. Enjoy!

Don't know about the ad free Gmail, haven't got that far yet. There's loads to learn as there are numerous keyboard shortcuts, archiving facilities, things called labels (like folders but better, apparently) and other things. The ability to search your emails is a superb feature. There's a Google search bar at the top each page and it's just a case of selecting "search web" or "search email". I also like the fact that Gmail won't suspend your account until there's been 9 months of inactivity. With Hotmail it's 30 days.

Oh, and I know your don't use Moz/FF, but I've just found this very cool extension (http://jedbrown.net/mozilla/extensions/#WebMailCompose) that adds a contextual link to any email address or mailto: link. Right-click the address, select GMail, the browser opens up a new tab, goes to Gmail, opens up the "compose" window and puts the email address into the "to" field. Like so (http://jedbrown.net/mozilla/extensions/WebMailCompose/Screenshots/contextmenu_onmaillink.png). Amazing!

[Phil]

francis, your CSS knowledge is second to none.
i.e me too please!

p.c.hudson@greenwich.ac.uk

[francis]

Mmm, quite licky, Phil, but you lose marks for including the letters 'ie' in your post :D

Nah, invite on the way to you - enjoy. I should point out that on accepting the invite, I get a mail from Gmail telling me that you have accepted and also your email address, which is automatically added to my 'contacts' list. So, Tom, I know your Gmail address.

[Phil]

Francis

U R a *


- though my girlfriend has just taken the wind out of my sails by telling me her free gmx.net mail has just upgraded her to a Gigabtye mailbox, too (plus pop3 access).

[francis]

Maybe, but you need to check out the Gmail stuff like threaded emails, keyboard shortcuts, labels, filters and more. Dunno if that kind of stuff is in your GF's product, but there was never anything like this in Hotmail. And, oh yeah, a Google toolbar on each page including the facility to search (using more Google filters like to: from: and more) your entire account. And, so far, no spam at all.

[James]

OK Francis, you have 4 invites for Gmail.

The only people who read this forum regularly are:

You (and you've already got one I assume)
Tom
David
Phil
Me

er ... there's the 4 invites taken then without you having to decide who to give them to.

However, I'm not sure I want / need a Gmail account, apart from for research purposes.

Why would I want a Gmail instead of my regular FreeUK ISP e-mail?

That's not a criticism - I want to know what all the fuss is about.

Cheers

[francis]

I know exactly what you're saying about the invites! Each person actually gets 6, but Simon's snagged one and the other went somewhere else. Tom and Phil should also now have 6 each.

I've always wanted a couple of email addresses and Hotmail sucked massively - I had it for a good while but the 'you must sign in every 30 days or we delete everything' was annoying as was the obscene amount of spam that I got, seemingly regardless of what level of filtering I employed. Additionally, the amount of storage space for the free account wasn't great, especially when most of it was taken up with spam.

Gmail gives me the ability to get people to mail me without giving out my main address. The threaded email is cool, although Thunderbird already has that, so it's not so killer for me. Threaded email works like this:

1: I send you a mail
2: You reply
3: I reply to that
4: You reply again.

In Outlook/Express, your replies you be two separate mails that would be somewhere in my inbox. If I got, say 10 mails in between your two replies, they wouldn't be anywhere near each other. Threaded email bunches all of the replies together, so it's really easy to see related emails/conversations. Gmail lumps them all together in one heading and clicking on the text opens up each individual mail. Thunderbird does the same, but gives you one of the collapsable +/- buttons that then expands/collapses the tree of mails. If that didn't make any sense, here's a thread from Thunderbird; the original mail is at the top and replies are bunched below it:

http://www.websitearchitecture.co.uk/storr/forumimgs/threaded-email.gif

It's still early days to see how good Gmail is - I've set up a filter to shift all mails from my work address into a new 'label', but I've no idea how that works yet, so we'll see. As to what Tom and Phil think...

[James]

I would like to test it then if you have a spare. Can't I just register on the site though? Why the feeling of elitism with invite only? Or was that you being "funny"?

I assume Gmail is web-based only? (Hotmail can be accessed using Outlook). Although I agree entirely about Hotmail - it's for backpackers keeping in touch with home. And it's ruined by spam.

Cheers!

[francis]

Gmail is still a beta and Google are operating an invite only system. Basically, you can only get an account if your invited to have one from an existing account holder - it's their way of trying to limit access. I'd hate to see an invite go to waste - if you're just going to test it and not use it, it would be a waste - are you sure you want one?

Gmail is only web based. I tried an experiment today to see whether I could launch it from within a frameset, so as to try and avoid the 'you're looking at web email' thing that we have. It didn't work unfortunately.

[francis]

James: just sent you an invite, enjoy. Don't shut the account if you don't want to use it - you can keep it open for 9 months without touching it and it won't be deleted. You never know, it might come in handy. You should also get 6 invites for other people.

I had a look at an email conversation I was having with a colleague about Gmail's ability to thread mail. The adverts on the right were:

Web of Thread
Sewing, quilting, appliqué, embroidery & serging thread.
www.webofthread.com
Sewing Supplies
Low Priced Supplies & Equipment for Professional and Home Sewers
www.sewtrue.com
Thread & Other Supplies
Wholesale pricing for everyone! sewing, embroidery, quilting & more
www.threadart.com

[James]

Interesting:

http://gmail-is-too-creepy.com/

[David]

I need a new mail account like I need a hole in the head.

I've just spent some time over the last few months trying to rationalise my online life and that has meant moving host accounts and closing email and dial-up accounts. Although the lure of threaded mails is very enticing, James' last post is enough to tip the balance.

I'm keen to hear how you all get on but I'm not ready to sucumb to the latest "need-to-have" just yet.

I figure that if threaded mails are such a good idea (and they are) other mail clients will follow.

Sorry to buck the trend ;)