Yahoo! recently announced that they will increase the size of their free email accounts to 1 GB likely as a response to Google’s GMail, which gives users that much space. But GMail seems to be ahead of the game even as Yahoo! is still just preparing for the increase. Today, on the first anniversary of the launch of GMail, Google announced that they will continue to grow the size of GMail accounts beyond 2GBs. They have a nifty little counter on the GMail homepage that shows the increase of the mailbox size. (If you’re a GMail user and are always logged in, you’ll have to log out to see the number.) There’s also a cute little infinite-plus-one figure. As you watch the number grow, you can quench your thirst with some Google Gulp (in beta, of course).
{ 21 comments }
Raimo 04.01.05 at 12:19 pm
Can’t you tell it’s April 1 – there’s nowhere to sign on for this thing.
(Ok, yell at me if you must. But I really can’t find anywhere to sign on).
Keith M Ellis 04.01.05 at 12:26 pm
Unless you’re saving all attachments, I can’t see how anyone needs even 1GB of email stoarge. Even if your mail is all bloated HTML, that’s a genormous bunch of emails.
General storage available over the net? That’s another matter entirely.
mpowell 04.01.05 at 12:36 pm
In the five years I was a student, I probably received more than 50,000 emails. I don’t receive emails that frequently anymore, but some people probably do. I think someone could get to 1M emails over their lifetime. At 1Kb/email that could reach 1G. And that doesn’t even count a few attachments that you will undoubtedly have floating around. The beauty of not having to delete your email, is that it actually takes less time to process- if something looks unimportant just archive it somewhere and you can retrieve it later if it turns out it was. The point of google’s quota is not that everyone will need it, but everyone will know that they will always have enough room.
Raimo 04.01.05 at 12:40 pm
Never mind all that – where do you sign on for it?
yami 04.01.05 at 12:59 pm
raimo: it’s still invite-only. Check here.
joel turnipseed 04.01.05 at 1:04 pm
mpowell: My outlook express file is currently 1.7GB… but that includes every e-mail worth saving since 1999. It’s amazing how this creeps up on you (and what a pain it is to switch computers).
Must say, meantime, that I’ve never liked web-based e-mail (and have known several friends who’ve been much-bummed by accidently deleting mail on such systems, with no “deleted” folder from which to then rescue the note(s)).
Raimo 04.01.05 at 1:15 pm
Yami: thanks.
All I saw was the hype, but now I’m in the queue, thanks to you.
But why is there a queue?
des von bladet 04.01.05 at 1:20 pm
Raimo: try this one.
Artificial scarcity, isn’t it?
(My freemail is pointedly Yahoo!)
Keith M Ellis 04.01.05 at 1:23 pm
“My outlook express file is currently 1.7GB”
Well, I’ve been saving all my email since about 1994, though I’ve had a few data losses in there which, cumulatively, have probably reduced my mail by 50%. And, not including attachments, it totals less than 100MB. Now, mind you, this is with all spam deleted. But it’s incoming and outgoing.
I know there are people who for various reasons get lots and lots and lots of email. But I really think they’re outliers. I’ve been very active on the Internet for more than ten years, I kept one mail email address for, um, six, and I’ve never tried to disguise my identity or avoid spam. People can email me, I have net correspondants, and most of my friends have had email for quite some time. And yet, still only 100MB. 200MB if you account for what I’ve accidentally lost. So I’m still having trouble with the idea that a normal user would need 1GB. But, I am aware that people keep attachments and use email to transfer significantly large files (neither of which I do, long term).
Like lots of people, I’ve many gmail invites if anyone wants one (my email address here is correct). No luck, though, for anyone wanting a GoogleGulp invite. Sorry.
Keith M Ellis 04.01.05 at 1:24 pm
(Um, figure out my email address from my domain name. :)
Andy 04.01.05 at 1:31 pm
I’m a little disturbed by Gulp’s “features” but I love the way Beta Carroty is marketed towards those who can’t stand vegtables. More seriously, andyferris [at] gmail [dot] com ’cause I have 50 or so invites.
des von bladet 04.01.05 at 1:35 pm
People with invites: send them to the spooler!
People without invites: get them from the spooler!
The spooler gives and the spooler takes!
From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs, and none of that tedious interpersonal stuff!
Raimo 04.01.05 at 1:46 pm
“Artificial scarcity, isn’t it?”
Sure, I was just enquiring.
joel turnipseed 04.01.05 at 1:55 pm
Keith –
Yes, those attachments add up: drafts of books, friends books, recommendation letters and grant proposals sent and received, all my business files…
Of course, one thing about this ongoing “space race” is that it’s a real f***ing head-ache for archiving. All my old Pine e-mails from late 80s and early 90s: gone; the eudora files from 90s on the Mac: gone; AOL from mid-90s: gone… I had to rescue first four drafts of my first book from my old Mac-formatted Syquest drives last year by taking it to friends Mac-oriented journal offices.
I pity the scholars of 2050.
sidereal 04.01.05 at 2:13 pm
It’s worth noting that they certainly aren’t pre-allocating 1 or 2 GB of storage for every user. Basically, they’re agreeing to let you store up to that limit and then allocating storage as people approach it. And they well know that 0.00001% of their users are even going to remotely approach it. Therefore the actual number is essentially meaningless. They could just as well give out 1TB of storage per user.
jet 04.01.05 at 2:46 pm
But if my app that turns GMAIL into network file storage by archiving files by breaking them into 1 meg chunks catches on, then everyone will be using 2 gig to store their family photos and music collection on. And then GMAIL will have to lower their storage limits. Err…so maybe I shouldn’t release my app, cause I’m enjoying this free network service.
novalis 04.01.05 at 3:00 pm
Too late, jet.
Andy 04.01.05 at 3:04 pm
Erm jet, won’t something like WinRAR do what you’re talking about too? At least the breaking into chunks and then the rest is up to a browser or POP3 client.
abb1 04.01.05 at 3:11 pm
Well, I am saving my photos in gmail all the time now. But I am not so sure it’s a good idea:
1. how safe is it? can they tell you one of these days: sorry, we lost all your data? this happened with syncit.com service I used. And
2. what if tomorrow they ask you to pay a fee, maybe a significant fee?
jet 04.01.05 at 3:33 pm
Novalis, thanks that looks like DA BOMB. A mountable file system? Holy frigg’n crap, that is lightyears cooler than what I did.
Andy, the point was to make it easy and transparent to the user. My app just opens up a file browser that looks like any other except the files in the browser are in GMAIL. But Novalis’s link wins the prize hands down.
Abb1, makes a great point. I guess free file networks don’t give much in the way of warranties.
eszter 04.01.05 at 7:11 pm
If you think it’s too much space, you can always grab the GMail Drive shell extension (Win). But nowadays when many emails arrive with attachments, it’s not that hard to fill up quite a bit of space in a relatively short amount of time.
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