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Simon Willison’s Weblog

1GB of webmail from Google

Provided this story about a new 1 GB webmail service from Google isn’t a lame early April fool, I’m really psyched about it. A decent amount of space combined with Google’s search technology could really help me keep up to date with my email. Just off the top of my head, here’s my ideal hosted webmail feature list:

  • Costs between two and ten dollars a month. This is a critical service I’m entrusting to a company—I want the reassurance that there’s cold hard cash on the line if they screw anything up. Paying for a no-ads option is fine too.
  • Smart filtering. I’m on a bunch of different mailing lists and can’t live without filters.
  • “Virtual folders”—things like “all emails from this person”, “emails sent to this person” should be on hand at all times.
  • Import and export mail as mbox files. Don’t lock me in!
  • Decent spam filtering, obviously.
  • Send plain text, receieve plain text. No HTML in either direction.
  • Kick-arse search.

I don’t really have very complex needs, which is why I’m so frustrated that so far nothing I’ve tried has done what I need it to. Here’s hoping Google can hit the mark.

Update: The Google press release is dated April 1st. Given their history, it’s almost certainly a hoax. Aah well, we can dream.

Posted 1st April 2004 at 2:35 am

This is 1GB of webmail from Google by Simon Willison, posted on 1st April 2004.

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43 comments

  1. Sounds a lot like Thunderbird to me.

    Richard - 1st April 2004 03:11 - #

  2. Tried it: it worked pretty well but the search wasn't fast enough, it didn't make it easy enough to instantly see all correspondance from and to a specific person and most importantly it isn't webmail so my email is only available on a single machine.

    Simon Willison - 1st April 2004 03:20 - #

  3. Then I guess I'm blessed with an account that has both IMAP and a webmail interface (for those very rare times I'm online and not my own machine). And all this time I thought email was dead.

    Richard - 1st April 2004 03:43 - #

  4. Send plain text, receieve plain text. No HTML in either direction.

    No large webmail service will ever offer this "feature". Sure, it may be an option to turn off HTML, but most will always offer it by default.

    Scott Johnson - 1st April 2004 03:48 - #

  5. Scott, provided the option is there and works I'll be perfectly happy.

    Simon Willison - 1st April 2004 03:55 - #

  6. So now that New York Times has picked up the story, does this make it any less of an April Fool's Joke? Or does this all start sounding feasible? I figure it's not easy to fool two reporters from fairly prominent publications -- and have all of Google in on the joke, too.

    Ilya Haykinson - 1st April 2004 04:16 - #

  7. It looks it's not an April Fool's Joke. It's published in Wired too.

    selda - 1st April 2004 04:55 - #

  8. Scott, provided the option is there and works I'll be perfectly happy.

    I sort of figured that was what you meant.

    It looks it's not an April Fool's Joke. It's published in Wired too.

    PigeonRank was published all over as well. And it was definitely an April Fool's joke. In these times of virtually no fact researching, a major publication picking up a story doesn't really mean anything. No offense to Wired, as they're usually reliable, but I just don't buy this.

    Sure, hard drives are dirt cheap these days. Sure, it's feasible. But Google has a history with April Fool's Day.

    Scott Johnson - 1st April 2004 05:51 - #

  9. That sounds exactly like what I have set up on my server with Zoe[1]. Read a description on how it's set up at[2]. Zoe does the filtering dynamically - no need to set up specific filters. The basic premis being that computers should be able to filter automatically. [1] zoe.nu
    [2] Email Heaven

    Jens-Christian Fischer - 1st April 2004 07:43 - #

  10. I suspect that their April Fools joke is the job offer for jobs on the moon......

    Ben Thorp - 1st April 2004 08:32 - #

  11. From the press release I'd have to say it was a joke. They do have a website for it but it doesn't provide anything useful really.

    Ronan - 1st April 2004 09:25 - #

  12. I can speak from personal experience when I say that publication of a story in national media, and for that matter in Wired, is no guarantee of its veracity. An April Fools'-like joke I created at CWRU was reported as if real in Wired, The Washington Post, and several other outlets.

    I personally e-mailed both Wired and the WP to inform them of the truth, and of the two, only the WP ever printed a correction. Wired never acknowledged that they'd screwed up. (Go figure.)

    So, while GMail may or may not be a joke, don't take its serious treatment in the media as an indication of anything.

    Eric Meyer - 1st April 2004 12:43 - #

  13. Until a few hours ago, gmail.google.com would load Google's Directory... So, to me it looks like a lame April fool. :)

    Michel Valdrighi - 1st April 2004 13:25 - #

  14. Hmmm, appears the BBC has been suckered too.

    Though 1GB per user isn't going to be much of a problem, afterall Google uses OpenSource and I'm sure they'd have heard of GNU/LZip... :D

    Jonathan Stanley - 1st April 2004 15:08 - #

  15. Guys, gmail.com works and Google has been planning webmail for a long, long time. While I may think the GB of storage space could be a joke, I don't think Gmail.com is...

    Martin Alderson - 1st April 2004 16:20 - #

  16. I really hope it's not an april fools, I signed up for newsletters anyway so I was doubly fooled!

    Gledster2000 - 1st April 2004 18:14 - #

  17. Sounds like a shrewd move on Google's part to me. They can use April 1st to test the waters without committing to anything at all.

    • Press Release gets a bad reception: "Why, it was an April Fool"
    • Press Release gets a good reception: "It's in an advanced stage of beta testing"

    The 1GB limit for users need not be a problem for Google. How many accounts are going to grow beyond even a few MBs? I am sure there will be some form of limitation on the size and total number of attachments applied to outgoing mail too.

    I'll admit that the "closed beta testing" that nobody has heard about is a bit suspect though.

    I want it to be true just for shaking up webmail's sake but I wouldn't put money on it - yet.

    Danny Shepherd - 1st April 2004 18:38 - #

  18. Reuters has a followup story with quotes from Google staff claiming that it is not a hoax.

    Matt Brubeck - 1st April 2004 22:51 - #

  19. It is real. One catch, your mail is machine read and an ad is inserted. The ad will have something related to your mail conversation.

    Gary - 2nd April 2004 02:11 - #

  20. Hello, Let me introduce ourselves. We are the operators of www.gmails.co.uk . On the site you will see a brand new Google Gmail question and answer forum which we intend to build on with membership in the future. We wish to build a team of experts at a forum for this exciting new product. Regards, John Carver www.gmails.co.uk

    John Carver - 11th April 2004 12:45 - #

  21. thanks for offering freee of cost

    mahmood - 20th August 2004 13:04 - #

  22. I think this (Gmail) is the best idea that Google can have. Imagine: 1Gb, wow, I think it's good, really good.

    Ernesto - 10th September 2004 07:18 - #

  23. i need invite. thx

    Vladas - 13th October 2004 19:35 - #

  24. been to the ends of the world and nothing yet.... do you have any more invites at hand?

    Tony White - 15th October 2004 03:34 - #

  25. invite needed....thank u.

    rofi - 20th October 2004 05:45 - #

  26. Thanks for offering the invites, I'll really appreciate if you can send me an invitaion. If you need designer and urban wear for yourself or girl friend visit our web site. Thanks

    Sam M Khan - 29th October 2004 17:34 - #

  27. My guess is that the filesize limit to send to people is about 500 kb.

    PoopyPants - 31st October 2004 17:24 - #

  28. If anybody got a Gmail invitation left can you Please send it to me. I have been looking every where for an invitation but still don'd have any luck. I'll be very thankfull to the person who will send me an invitation. please send it to amorevn@hotpop.com

    quang - 11th November 2004 09:14 - #

  29. hey i'd really appreciate a gmail invite if u have any left, or if u can ask anyone u sent an invite to if they can send me an invite thanks. my email is darkstarmail@yahoo.com

    lloyd - 27th November 2004 04:38 - #

  30. hey i'd really appreciate a gmail invite if u have any left, or if u can ask anyone u sent an invite to if they can send me an invite thanks. my email is man_utdsmanager@hotmail.com

    beano - 25th December 2004 02:18 - #

  31. Hi , please invite me THanks !

    hi - 30th December 2004 10:55 - #

  32. No idea if you still read comments in old articles, but I just noticed that gmail now has a javascript free version (disable js in your browser to see for yourself)

    huphtur - 4th March 2005 17:43 - #

  33. google

    Nguyen Dai Vu - 19th June 2005 17:45 - #

  34. i desperately need a gmail account because i am fedup of yahoo account.please send me an invitation.gmail means godly or gegabyte mail that means the best service in the world today.

    saurabh - 16th July 2005 14:17 - #

  35. hi

    Jacob - 18th August 2005 09:37 - #

  36. hehe

    jack - 18th August 2005 09:38 - #

  37. Invite me for Gmail account and send invitation

    SANJAY SHARMA - 23rd August 2005 15:44 - #

  38. test

    adsl101 - 3rd September 2005 06:21 - #

  39. hI, I WANT TO TRY THE GOOGLE MAIL. PLEASE GIVE ME ONE. THANKS

    ahmed - 15th September 2005 20:13 - #

  40. plz send me a invitation.........to gmail account...........

    piyush - 22nd September 2005 19:44 - #

  41. i have heard that gmail is good enough to use. plzzzzzzzzzz send me gmail invites. thanks in advance.

    umesh kumar - 7th November 2005 10:20 - #

  42. i have heard that gmail is good enough to use. plssend me gmail invites. thanks in advance Htin Aung Kyaw

    Htin Aung Kyaw - 2nd December 2005 09:56 - #

  43. you know what I got here by google search engine- so all I wanted was an invite to open an account of g-mail. Thanking you very much for your time. Sirivantha, Mysore, India.

    sirivantha - 21st July 2006 16:37 - #

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