Gmail Marks Five Years In Beta

TrekkieTechie writes "Though in fact the big day was April 1st, Google celebrated the five-year anniversary of the popular online email service Gmail with a post on the service's blog, saying 'we want to give a big thank you to all of you who use Gmail every day, to those who've been around since the beginning, to those who were using an AJAX app before the term AJAX was popular, to those who started chatting right in your email ... we couldn't have gotten here without you.' The milestone has also prompted speculation about when, if ever, Gmail will lose its beta status, and Ars Technica recently sat down with Todd Jackson, Gmail's Project Manager, to discuss the reasoning behind that nagging beta label."

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Humanity is still in Beta and most people don't seem to mind that.

What a coincidence...

[VinylRecords]

This also marks the five year anniversary of me not using HotMail or Outlook Express.

Re:Gmail is a sandbox

[Thanshin]

it being beta has a function.

f()?

oh noes

[jessica_alba]

they know i have erectile-dysfunction and am also insecure about my bust size, and on a more dubious note, I am most likely personally responsible for all Nigerian immigration to the US. Oh yeah, I also get mail from the future...wait a second, I'm thinking about my old yahoo mail account. seriously though, how much energy is wasted hosting my personal collection of over 100,000 unread spam emails.

Re:Gmail is a sandbox

[Thanshin]

f()?

crap.

P.S.: f() -> f(Greek small letter beta) ...

I'll go back to my cave.

Re:Why?

[codeButcher]

Humanity is still in Beta

... and that is probably flattering yourself.

Re:Tag

[Starayo]

Hey! I'm going to finish it one day!

Re:Beta?

[palegray.net]

Look, I keep trying to explain this, but nobody wants to listen to reason. Google's engineering population contains a high percentile of gamers, and they're not taking Gmail out of beta until Duke Nukem Forever is released. Geez, it's the second Slashdot story today I've had to comment in to point out these obvious parallels to the sinister ties between extreme gaming and our everyday lives.

Re:Why?

[taragui]

Only some of them. Most (at least judging from the general level of comments here in Slashdot) are Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons.

Perhaps GMail is glad it's a Beta, because Alphas work too hard?

Re:Why?

[Darth_brooks]

Is that why so many "Alpha Male" types are knuckle dragging meat heads?

Re:Earliest adopter? (outside Google)

[u38cg]

No, but I could beat you with a stick made of pure solidified smugness. How's that for ya?

Re:Hackers.

[koterica]

This is from Jurassic Park. I know this!

Re:Beta?

[elrous0]

Maybe Gmail 1.0 is sort of like Warp 10--something that can never actually be reached. By the time it ends, it will be up to Beta release version 0.99999997

Re:Beta is meaningless

[alpayerturkmen]

The reason is very simple: a site should be constantly working to improve and change.

No all sites can improve. http://www.endoftheinternet.com/ [endoftheinternet.com]

Re:What a coincidence...

[robot_love]

I read that as "Wordpress made me abandon monogamy".

I thought, "I must look into this 'Wordpress'".

Re:Beta?

[darjen]

you actually sat there for hours watching a white screen? I hope you had munchies.

Re:What a coincidence...

[spyrochaete]

Something tells me you don't practise what you preach in your Slashdot sig!