Opinions on gmail?

[CarlZog]

I need to consolidate my email accounts under one. Tell me about your experiences with gmail.

Pros?
Cons?
Reliable?
Ads intrusive?


Carl

 

[Jdvn1]

I've really liked GMail, myself. Instead of a bunch of folders, you can add one or more tags to incoming emails and filter by tag. Pretty slick system. I also like having replies and older emails put together in their 'message' view or whatever they call it.

I haven't had any problems. I didn't like when they put in ads, but they're not intrusive at all.

I also use fastmail.fm, which is a more standard type of email client, but is pretty powerful, if you're looking.

 

[JimAde]

All good. The interface took me a little while to get used to. It was kind of hard to find how to move and delete things and the whole labelling function had me baffled for a bit. But now I've got it straightened out and I love it. The way it organizes e-mail threads and lets you auto-categorize them based on rules is very nice. If you need a gmail invite I haven't used any of mine yet.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I've been using GMail for nearly a year now, and it's the best free email service I've ever used. Now, in response to your questions about it:

Pros: Lots of storage space, a big list of useful features, auto-saves drafts of emails so that you won't have to re-type a long email if your computer suddenly crashes. GMail is also a part of Google's personalized desktop (my browser home page features Google's search engine, links to the 5 most recent messages in my GMail inbox, the quote of the day, the word of the day, and the 3-day weather forcast for my area).

Cons: The rather unique interface might confuse new users or people who don't have much experience with computers/internet.

Reliable: GMail is very rarely down, and when it does go down it is usually fixed quite quickly.

Ad Intrusive: GMail does have ads, but they aren't very intrusive at all. I've been using GMail for so long that I hardly even notice them anymore.

 

[WingOver]

I've been pondering this task myself. I like gmail alot but hotmail is due for an upgrade soon. They are currently testing a version code-named Kahuna that has an Outlook style interface. Once that's released I might be tempted back to hotmail so I haven't fully committed to gmail yet.

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/msn_kahuna_preview.asp

 

[MonsterMash]

I like gmail best out of the main free webmails - I also have hotmail and yahoo accounts, not least because of the MSN and Yahoo groups that I need accounts to access. I tend to log out of my gmail account when I'm going to use Google searches though.

 

[Dimwhit]

I love Gmail. No negatives from my experience. Tons of space (2.6GB currently), POP access, which is really nice, unobtrusive ads (I rarely even notice them), and great uptime. The ONLY complaint is that they don't have email groups, which I hope the address soon. But I highly recommend the service.

Oh, and they have a great spam filter.

 

[Mercule]

Gmail is okay. No real negatives. I used it long enough to get used to the unique interface, but ultimately decided that I like neither threaded views nor perpetual archiving. In the end, I went back to Yahoo! mail.

Some of that may be because I use the My Yahoo! page and use Launchcast Radio (a Yahoo! service), and I find Yahoo! Groups to be significantly more useful than Google Groups. So, I'm logged into Yahoo! a fair amount, anyway. Why have my webmail somewhere else? I've got my own domain, so the only thing I use Yahoo!/GMail for is lists or potential spam sign-ups, anyway. I can't imagine using either as my primary email account.

Actually, it's funny that I use so many Yahoo! services, considering I used to hate them because their search engine has never been able to return what I was looking for.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I need to consolidate my email accounts under one. Tell me about your experiences with gmail.

Pros?
Cons?
Reliable?
Ads intrusive?

Love it. I only use my Hotmail account for stuff that I know will generate spam. Everything else is in Gmail, other than work emails.

Pros-love the threaded messages. Love the search function. no real opinions on the archiving, but I have used it a few times and it works as advertised.

Cons-I rarely delete messages anymore, so my inbox is very cluttered, but the search function gets me around that. I guess I'm not using it to the fullest extent that I could be.

Reliable-on occasion (ie. 1-2 times a month) I can't get into the inbox for an hour or so, I ssume because of upgrades and such. Seeing as it's officially still in Beta testing, that comes with the territory. It's never been down long enough to cause me any inconvienience.

Ads-not intrusive at all. I don't even notice them. They are way over on the righthand side of the page, no flashing lights, no banners, no colors, just black text with blue links in an otherwise unused bart of the screen.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

The ONLY complaint is that they don't have email groups, which I hope the address soon.

Yes, they do...
http://groups.google.com/