Topic: Gmail is 10th Years old now. :)

[Samker]

If you wanted to get a free email account back in 2004, there were plenty of options; there was Hotmail by Microsoft, and Yahoo Mail was also popular. However, the launch of Gmail by Google 10 years ago today was regarded by many people as a joke at first.

It didn't help matters that Google chose April Fools' Day to make its official announcement; lots of folks thought it was a prank: http://googlepress.blogspot.com/2004/04/google-gets-message-launches-gmail.html
Google claimed that Gmail offered 1 GB of free storage, which was well above what Hotmail and Yahoo Mail gave to its users. The idea of being able to search for words inside emails was also new, as was turning mail messages between people into "conversations".

10 years later, Gmail is now one of the world's biggest free email sources, and has replaced the regular email desktop client for many users. However, as Time points out in a new article, Gmail had a lot of skeptics inside the company while it was under development but it's now one of the company's most well known services, thanks in part to its use of ads generated by the emails of its users: http://time.com/43263/gmail-10th-anniversary/

Paul Buchheit created the first version of Gmail simply by making a search engine for his own emails while at Google. Later, the small Gmail team developed the front end using JavaScript, which enabled it to add features that the HTML-based Hotmail could not use.

When the service did launch, only a few outsiders were asked to use it and soon getting a Gmail account was considered to be the new hip thing in the tech industry. People actually started selling Gmail invite codes on eBay until Google stepped in and made that practice illegal. Gmail didn't open up to everyone until 2007 and the beta label itself wasn't removed until 2009.: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-apps-is-out-of-beta-yes-really.html

Many people were not happy with Gmail scanning their email messages to create the "Sponsored Links". Indeed, California state senator Liz Figueroa announced just a few days after Gmail's launch she would write a bill that would ban such practices. That version of the bill never became law, but many people and companies, including Microsoft, still don't like the fact that Gmail creates ad links from the messages of its user's emails.

Even with that controversy, there's no denying that 10 years after the launch of Gmail, it changed the face of emails for many people. It also changed Google from just a search engine to a company that offered free web-based tools which have expanded and improved to this day.

(NW)

[devnullius]

I remember the day well! I also remember the day where I was when I learned about Google.com... Was hotbotting till then

They were HARD to get though! It was invite only, gmail.

Only months later a friend of mine mentioned having gotten some new email account few months before; if I'd like an invite? DOH! I still know the guy - never forgave him for this 

I even was very active with handing out invitations - even made a special script just to easily copy paste all links etc. https://www.google.com/search?q=devnullius+gmail+invite+here&oq=devnullius+gmail+invite+here&aqs=chrome..69i57.4251j0j4&sourceid=chrome&espv=2&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8


Here is my first gmail:

Gmail is different. Here's what you need to know.


Gmail Team gmail-noreply@google.com
Thu, Sep 2, 2004 at 12:33 PM

to me

Categorize this message as:Personal

First off, welcome. And thanks for agreeing to help us test Gmail. By now you probably know the key ways in which Gmail differs from traditional webmail services. Searching instead of filing. A free gigabyte of storage. Messages displayed in context as conversations.

So what else is new?

Gmail has many other special features that will become apparent as you use your account. To help you get started, we encourage you to visit our Help Center, there you can browse frequently asked questions, read our Getting Started guide, or contact the Gmail User Support Team. You'll also find information in the Help Center on such topics as:

Importing your contacts from Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and others to Gmail
Using address auto-complete
Setting up filters for incoming mail
Using advanced search options
You may also have noticed some text ads or related links to the right of this message. They're placed there in the same way that ads are placed alongside Google search results and, through our AdSense program, on content pages across the web. The matching of ads to content in your Gmail messages is performed entirely by computers; never by people. Because the ads and links are matched to information that is of interest to you, we hope you'll find them relevant and useful.

We're working hard during our limited test to improve Gmail and make it the best webmail service around. Thanks for taking the plunge with us. We hope you'll enjoy Google's approach to email.


Thanks,

The Gmail Team

P.S. You can sign in to your account any time by visiting http://gmail.google.com

---

PS: search gmail like this for oldest emails:
before:2004/12/01

[Samker]

hmmmm... I can't remember when I first opened gmail acc.... I think it was after 2004. 

[devnullius]

hmmmm... I can't remember when I first opened gmail acc.... I think it was after 2004. 

Who's the boss? ;p

Still - I felt left out when my friend told me he had plenty of invites through his gaming contacts on IRC... He still is on there too

It is the same friend who mined 125 bitcoins in the first weeks it was released; on his old Mac (many cores though). Sadly he sold the harddrives to... me! And ofcourse I triple read write badblocked them before installing them in a friend's computer. Sigh?

PS: search gmail like this for oldest emails:
before:2004/12/01

[Samker]

hmmmm... I can't remember when I first opened gmail acc.... I think it was after 2004. 

Who's the boss? ;p

...

You are the governess.

...

It is the same friend who mined 125 bitcoins in the first weeks it was released; on his old Mac (many cores though). Sadly he sold the harddrives to... me! And ofcourse I triple read write badblocked them before installing them in a friend's computer. Sigh?

...

Pity for him (and you). 

[devnullius]

...

You are the governess.

... good taste: I had posters of this artist in my student time. Got them from an art friend of mine; I later gave them away to a new generation of students

What was his name...? Boris? Valdes? Something like that?

[devnullius]

Boris Vallejo

http://www.oocities.org/the3agents/boris.html

Great artwork for both gendres

[neerajrawat1]

Why don't we have a like button for this post or the ones at the top are for separate posts. Never noticed before

[Samker]

Boris Vallejo

http://www.oocities.org/the3agents/boris.html

Great artwork for both gendres

Yes, he have interesting works.

Why don't we have a like button for this post or the ones at the top are for separate posts. Never noticed before

We have two options for "likes", "ShareThis" & Google's "+1"



Please check,

S.

[neerajrawat1]

Yup, I got it and shared. I guess, got a server error when posted a got it message here. Buttons are too small and had to look for them. Increased size would make a better share call to readers