Trying Google's Gmail

Google's Gmail is still by invitation only, not open to the public. Up until mid-week, Gmail users were selling their extra invitations for profit on eBay. Sheesh...$35 a pop on some auctions!

Google put a stop to that, probably about the time I noticed prices were topping out at about $5, LOL. There was no way I was going to bid on one, anyway, not when they'd eventually be offered to the public. As Howie says, "I might be some dumb, but I ain't plumb dumb".

I may not want to pay for a Gmail account, but I'm not above groveling. ;)

The only remaining way to get an invitation is through existing Gmail users who have received invitations to dole out. So, I posted an entry in my blog begging for an invitation for Google's Gmail. A fellow blogger sent me one!

My desired username was available...Didn't even have to add some hyphen or a number at the end because others had gotten to it before me.

As you know, Gmail offers 1gb storage. You can also send/receive 10mb attachments. One caveat on the attachments: a 6mb file which requires a lot of encoding to make it into an attachment may end up being 10mb by the time it's all said and done. Still, that's a larger size limit than any provider I've used and I'm not complaining!

So far, it's run smoothly and I like it. Functions like applying filters and categorizing messages work almost seamlessly -- and fast, too.

I wouldn't send anything sensitive via Gmail, but it's nice having a gig of storage and the ability to get large attachments.