seattlepi.com Buzzworthy: Gmail opening up

March 14, 2005

Gmail opening up

It looks like Google is now openly offering Gmail accounts to random users of its search engine. I've seen the link below in two different Web browsers tonight when visiting Google tonight (although it doesn't show up in four others I tested):

The link URL is different in each case, but both point to a "Create a Google Account - Gmail" page (see this cached example) that gives the following explanation:

Since we launched Gmail in April 2004, we've been focused on improving the service, relying on our users to spread the word and invite others to try it out. The response has been great, and now we're ready for some more Gmail users. ...
As we make room for more Gmail users, we want to first extend invitations to Google users. We're still working to make Gmail better, so for now, we're just inviting a small number at random. Looks like that's you! We're really excited to share Gmail with you and we hope you like it.

Anyone else seen this yet?

Update: A Google spokeswoman tells IDG News Service that about 1 in 20 visitors to Google.com are getting the open invitations.

Category: When you have a minute
Posted by Brian Chin at March 14, 2005 09:21 PM

Comments

yup, saw it, clicked it, signed up, like it so far!

Posted by: chad at March 14, 2005 10:16 PM

i am a very heavy user of google.. n i had nv seen it b4.. could it be only available to those in the US only.. since i am from singaore n always directed to my local google..

Posted by: KCL at March 14, 2005 11:12 PM

I saw it to.. click it, but already had a gmail account. came back later and saw the custom news link. Then I wondered if they opened it or not because I didn't read the bit about random google users. Decided to search for gmail on goggle news and this was #1. thx for the heads up

Posted by: mike at March 14, 2005 11:44 PM

I saw it to.. clicked it, but I already have a gmail account. I went back later and saw the custom news ad link. Then I wondered if they opened Gmail or not because I didn't read the bit about random google users getting the ad link. Decided to search for gmail on goggle news and this was #1. cools 2x post ha ha ha

Posted by: mike at March 14, 2005 11:47 PM

I have been waiting a long time for this opportunity.

Posted by: Bob McMillen at March 15, 2005 05:39 AM

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/d-1-1c044a9bd5a15fb0-6eab7b50ce26625cdb2332800a6ede203cdfc5ac?promo=hpp-gmail-1

Posted by: apm at March 15, 2005 09:30 AM

well you all could have asked me a long time ago... I've had the service for quite a while... and if you are wondering about switching I have to say YES to you. It is easier... there are no real ads... i NEVER notice the text ads and I'm not really worried about having my personal emails scanned by robots since A: I'm not doing anything illegal anyways and B: I'm not dumb enough to email anybody my credit information, so its obviously not in there. If you have free mail... gmail is the mail to have.... if your paying for your mail, stop. If you have mail at the office, keep that and get this too. I'd rather have a computer snooping through my emails then my boss!

Posted by: Tom at March 15, 2005 09:53 AM

G-mail... been using it since college started this last fall. I've dumped all my other acccounts and have found the interface to be smooth, user friendly, and almost intuitive to use.

The text ads, yeah, I see them now, but never did until they were brought to my attention...

The ability to keep mail by threads is the most useful function I have found so far, and that's in addition to the insane amount of mail storgage ... never have to delete anything and it's all stored for web access.

Posted by: Dave at March 15, 2005 10:44 AM

Need a gmail account? mail abbyxp@gmail.com

Posted by: Abby at March 15, 2005 11:51 AM

Need a gmail account? I have so many invitations I don't know what to do with them. E-mail me at happy_efamily@msn.com and I'll send you a g-vite.

Posted by: ladyPolitik at March 15, 2005 12:54 PM

The fact that gmail doesn't do partial text string searches is highly irritating/vexing -- especially in light of google's expertise in search. What's the point of archiving everything if you can't search for it easily?

Instead, you have to remember the complete text of the word or phrase you were trying to think of. It's ridiculous!

So I went back to Yahoo.

Posted by: Nathan at March 15, 2005 01:06 PM

Yeah, I've gotten about 100 gmail invitations if anyone is still in need of one. I'm figuring by now, everyone that wants one has one, but if you still haven't recieved one, send an email to daniel.colter@gmail.com

Posted by: Daniel at March 15, 2005 01:12 PM

I don't understand why people have this unexplained affection towards google. Google is just another corp which does its evil stuff every once in a while. Remeber it just got caught for cloaking?

Anyways, so what? I like MS!

Posted by: Terry G at March 15, 2005 01:58 PM

They now block all RAR files, whether they contain EXE or just plain text. All RAR blocked.

ZIP is still ok, but only if it doesn't contain any executables.

Other archive formats like TAR just sail through.

Posted by: JB at March 15, 2005 02:04 PM

If you need a Gmail invite, you can also go to the invite spooler:

http://isnoop.net/gmail/

They have half a million invites in the queue to give away.

Posted by: Andrew at March 15, 2005 02:12 PM

If you need a Gmail invite, you can also go to the invite spooler:

http://isnoop.net/gmail/

They have half a million invites in the queue to give away.

Posted by: Andrew at March 15, 2005 02:15 PM

WBAT Internet Radio - http://www.wbatradio.com

Posted by: Brian at March 15, 2005 02:27 PM

Terry who cares if they got caught for cloaking? Its their own f$#@ site.

People just don't like Google for no reason. Their products rock. You obviously don't know about the superior features of some of their products over others. You're one of those people who are blind and use whats given to them, and unwilling to look for anything better.

Posted by: Terry is an idiot at March 15, 2005 02:30 PM

Terry: http://tinyurl.com/67yhs

And my affection for Google is not "unexplained". It's a good search engine that usually gets exactly what I'm looking for, and not only that, now they give me a free 1G email account with no advertisements.

They're not a big corporation, they're still a small company (at least, they act like one). Yeah, they're still out to make a buck, but not at the expense of the rest of the world.

Posted by: jc at March 15, 2005 02:41 PM

I have been using gmail for about six months now and I love it. The ability to google serach your inbox is amazing. Plus the massive amount if storage is great. I think this may be the downfall of hotmail.

Posted by: TRH at March 15, 2005 03:14 PM

I have it.

Wouldn't let me create another :(

Posted by: herojay at March 15, 2005 03:56 PM

Yes, I saw one a few days ago, but I already had a gmail account so I didn't get it...

Posted by: Nathan Malone at March 15, 2005 04:16 PM

If i am using firefox's start page would i see it, although i had a gmail account for about 7 months now i'm just curious.

Posted by: Garmel Leo at March 15, 2005 04:52 PM

I got it with Firefox

Posted by: jca at March 15, 2005 05:21 PM

I've had gmail for a while now. I love the amount of storage. AOL only gives me 100Mb of space. If the browser thing doesn't work for you go to http://isnoop.net/gmail/ or ask me here http://www.talkingllamas.blogspot.com.

Posted by: Tiffany at March 15, 2005 06:48 PM

Yea. I have like, a billion invites so if you need one hit me up. tommurawski@gmail.com

Posted by: tom at March 15, 2005 07:24 PM

I've had it for a little while. I had no problem getting 2 accounts. One i use just to keep everything organized. I never bookmark anything anymore. If you go to http://non-tech-city.blogspot.com/2005/03/using-g-mail-as-online-storage.html , you will find directions on how to use gmail as an organizer. It's great.

Posted by: Paul at March 15, 2005 07:27 PM

WEeeee... I saw that and i got the oportinity and i got already my 1GB account.... THNKS GMAIL... XD

Posted by: urbanchaos at March 15, 2005 08:16 PM

Check out this GMail tour that they posted on the Gmail help section. http://www.google.com/gmail/help/tour/indexStart.html

Posted by: Nate at March 15, 2005 08:17 PM

Posted by: kailashvaishnav at March 15, 2005 08:20 PM

sure this has nothing to do with gmail, but its just as sweet.

Here it is, you can get a mini mac for free.
Last fall I completed an offer from this same company and recieved a free
ipod. I was completely suprised when it came, i really didnt believe it.
Anyways, just follow this link and complete an offer, there are a few free ones
that you should definately choose (i did efax, its a cinch to cancel)
Here is your personal referral link:

http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=14103528

Oh and heres where I found out about these offers.

www.gearlive.com

go to the forums section then "free stuff"
Theres lots of discussions on these offers and pictures proving they work.
um, thats about it.. DEFINATELY DO IT

oh and if you know kevin rose from techtv he got his free ipod heres his site
as well.

http://www.kevinrose.com/

Posted by: chris at March 15, 2005 08:58 PM

The web user interface of GMail is very good.

However, the e-mail service SUCKS big time.

They don't allow you to receive any .ZIP or .RAR attachments. In the past they allowed .ZIP and .RAR attachments if they didn't contain .EXE files.

But now (from the 11th of this month on) they don't allow you to receive attachments at all. GMail didn't even announce their users about this.

Just try sending yourself a .ZIP or .RAR attachment, and you will see it doesn't get through.

GMail is just a money-making machine for Google, because they put ads on your e-mail. They don't care about their users at all.

The fact that GMail doesn't accept any attachments shows that Google just doesn't care and just screw their users.

Posted by: Dextrose at March 15, 2005 11:31 PM

hello

Posted by: alpinesystem at March 16, 2005 03:39 AM

I hate this, really. Gmail was great because not everyone had it. This I think royally sucks. Now everyone can get a Gmail Account if they want one, theres nothing really special about it. ive had a gmail account for about seven months, and I love it. But now that anyone can get it theres nothing special about saying "I use Gmail" because a bunch of lame pansy arse nitwits can just make thier own account. Its stupid.

Posted by: ZetaOmega at March 16, 2005 04:30 AM

ZetaOmega : So what? Are you selfish and don't want anyone to have a gmail account? Do you feel 'special' to use Gmail? Do you also thin it is stupid that many more people use internet?

Posted by: Lala at March 16, 2005 05:11 AM

ZetaOmega: Gmail was never meant to be elitist. Only a small group of people were 'invited' to use Gmail because they (including you) were GUINEA PIGS; your purpose was simply to alert Google about any bugs or improvements that Google could make to Gmail BETA, so that when it goes public, it's refined, sophisticated, and high-quality, not crappy. Google was planning on making this accessible to everyone in the first place, from "an orphan in Cambodia" to the "broker on Wall Street." Google's mission is to allow EVERYONE, without discrimination, to have access to information, email not excluded.

Posted by: evangeline at March 16, 2005 07:17 AM

I'm having troubles gettin into my gmail's account today... any of you having problems too??

Posted by: ffarfan at March 16, 2005 08:04 AM

hello

Posted by: mr blobby at March 16, 2005 10:33 AM

WANT A GMAIL ACCOUNT?? EMAIL ME AT CHINO331@GMAIL.COM AND I WILL INVITE YOU!! I HAVE 32 INVITES REMAINING... HURRY OR MISS OUT!! :)

Posted by: Barry at March 16, 2005 12:14 PM

Hey-

Check out this great site that is giving away totally FREE Photo iPods!

I've joined and I think you should as well.

It's a completely legitimate offer, and this company has already given away $4 million in FREE stuff!

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer, and refer friends to do the same. That's it!

Here is my referral link. To help me get my Photo iPod, click this exact link to join, or copy and paste it into a browser:
http://www.freephotoiPods.com/?r=15504415

Posted by: Mike at March 16, 2005 12:24 PM

I have 28 invitations left. Any takers? E-mail me at happy_efamliy "at" msn.com to get your complimentary g-vite.

Posted by: ladyPolitik at March 16, 2005 01:05 PM

You can get free Gmail invites at http://isnoop.net/gmail/

Posted by: Bobby at March 16, 2005 11:02 PM

pls send to my mail OK

Posted by: zinhtetaung at March 17, 2005 02:05 AM

pls send opening a gmail account

Posted by: amit at March 17, 2005 02:23 AM

pls send me the opening gmail account on my email address

Posted by: sanjay at March 17, 2005 05:10 AM

can u pls send me a form 2 open a gmail account!!!!

Posted by: mariette at March 17, 2005 07:42 AM

here's one for anyone...
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-60e7c0e385-f332fc0919-77dbd96e9a

Posted by: sarah at March 17, 2005 10:03 AM

if you want an account and can't get the link, I have ~140 account invites to give away. email me at iwantgmail@dodgeit.com and I will send you one.

Posted by: Free Accounts at March 17, 2005 11:18 AM

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/a-dae706c93e-0b9bfdba0c-671e2872a7

here's one for someone!

Posted by: abc at March 17, 2005 11:31 AM

I have only 15 invites left!!! Get your g-vite by e-mailing me at happy_efamily "at" msn.com before it's too late.

Posted by: ladyPolitik at March 17, 2005 01:13 PM

send me a gmail invitation

Posted by: leyla at March 17, 2005 04:19 PM

Gmail sucks. I cannot access the Gmail interface with the Opera Browser. I am forced to use IE. And then it keeps bugging me about setting my Browser language. SUCKS!

Posted by: ISRAEL at March 17, 2005 07:40 PM

Gmail sucks. I cannot access the Gmail interface with the Opera Browser. I am forced to use IE. And then it keeps bugging me about setting my Browser language. SUCKS!

Posted by: ISRAEL at March 17, 2005 07:40 PM

Gmail sucks. I cannot access the Gmail interface with the Opera Browser. I am forced to use IE. And then it keeps bugging me about setting my Browser language. SUCKS!

Posted by: ISRAEL at March 17, 2005 07:40 PM

Gmail sucks. I cannot access the Gmail interface with the Opera Browser. I am forced to use IE. And then it keeps bugging me about setting my Browser language. SUCKS!

Posted by: ISRAEL at March 17, 2005 07:41 PM

Hi, I'm the owner of the site that hosts the cached page linked to in this article. I just thought I'd apologize for the page being temporarily unavailable due to system problems. I'll have it back up as soon as I can get my darn computer to boot up properly. :P

Gmail is really a great service. The search isn't that impressive, but then again, I have yet to see impressive e-mail search. The concerns about Gmail scanning your e-mails is a joke. Any service that stores e-mail could scan your messages in the background without you ever knowing. And, in fact, they have to scan your e-mails in ways similar to how Gmail does it if they want to offer spell checking or spam blocking. Likewise, all Gmail does is some matching between text in the message and entries in their own databases. No one but Google sees your messages.

People rave about Gmail's essentially unlimited storage space, but the real great thing about Gmail is its interface. It has, by leaps and bounds, the best interface I've ever seen in an e-mail application, web-based or otherwise. I don't know how I ever lived without conversation grouping, and Gmail has a better implementation of it than in other clients like Thunderbird.

In my opinion, people who say they don't like Gmail are either speaking out of pure bias or otherwise haven't given Gmail a real try, because I can't see how the competing services even come close. It's supported by the fact that competitors like Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail have begun major changes that are obviously trying to mimic what Gmail offers. I've noticed certain trends among groups that are generally more informed on technology. One major one is dramatically higher Firefox usage versus Internet Explorer. Another is high Gmail usage. I highly recommend at least seeing what the fuss is about.

If you want a Gmail invitation, e-mail me at .

Posted by: David at March 17, 2005 09:33 PM

Oops. It seems this system thought I was trying to make an HTML tag. :P

nanobot@gmail.com

Posted by: David at March 17, 2005 09:38 PM

please tell me the procedure of opening gmail account please

Posted by: vikram at March 19, 2005 06:41 AM

I have seen the g-mail thing but my computers messed up so ever time i clck on it my computer shuts down!!!!!

Posted by: Brandi at March 19, 2005 10:12 PM

I wish people would stop it with the "Wanna gmail account, get an invite here" crap. The whole point of this page is saying that you don't need invites anymore! >:(
Other than that, I set one up, and for the most part its great, ads are un-noticeable (text ads), pretty easy to use, no fancy colors like hotmail has or anything, just plain black, white & blue links. but without the cluter of Yahoo.
Only thing thats bad is when you start making replys to E-mails, I hate the imitation thing were it tries to fake the look of a window behind another window, reminds me of outlook express! *shivers*

Posted by: Crazy_8 at March 21, 2005 09:57 AM

Posted by: Crazy_8 at March 21, 2005 09:59 AM

Invites with no one to give them to.

Posted by: Rob at March 22, 2005 09:22 PM

Is there anyone else out there who wants g-mail? I still have g-vites. I won't stop spreading the love until everyone is happy.

Posted by: ladyPolitik at March 25, 2005 01:08 PM

oh yeah, my e-mail is happy_efamily "at" msn.com

Posted by: ladyPolitik at March 25, 2005 01:12 PM

Crazy_8, not open to everyone :(. I wasn't randomly selected, so I don't have a link to it
:(. Would anyone mind sending me a g-mail invite? My email address is firstpcs@aol.com so pls send me one, ty!

Posted by: Becky at March 26, 2005 12:41 AM

Posted by: Becky at March 26, 2005 12:42 AM

hi can u please send me a link for opening g mail account i will be glae to receive and it will be very big help to me

Posted by: himanshu at March 26, 2005 12:03 PM

please new address open

Posted by: obileliza at March 28, 2005 11:43 PM

I use google.com many times but i never encounterted google giving away gmail account for free advertisement. If anyone of you guys have invites please do send me one @ amit_3693@yahoo.co.uk. thanku :-)

Posted by: Amit Mahadik at April 1, 2005 03:53 AM

interested to open a GMail account

Posted by: Alain Comtois at April 1, 2005 11:23 AM

I have to agree that their service rocked from the beginning on, but since they started blocking rar and zip archives, IMHO their hype will be over in no-time.
If they don't change their policy, this service has no advantages anymore.
Sad..

Posted by: YoHan at April 4, 2005 11:38 AM

I'm surprised that their are so many people still without an invitation. I've been getting 15-20 email requests a day asking for one. I've responded to everyone of them with an account refferal, it seems like at one point, everyone wanting one, would have one.

Posted by: Daniel at April 7, 2005 05:11 AM

can any one post me the fresh new link to create a gmail account it is very urgent for me

Posted by: hozefa at April 8, 2005 12:53 AM

can any one post me the fresh new link to create a gmail account it is very urgent for me

Posted by: sanjeevbais at April 10, 2005 01:19 AM

can any one post me the fresh new link to create a gmail account it is very urgent for me

Posted by: sanjeevbais at April 10, 2005 01:22 AM

asasas

Posted by: efsun at April 10, 2005 06:54 AM

Hi...would like to get an invitation for a gmail account if anyone has one to spare. Thanks in advance.

Posted by: jaybeth at April 17, 2005 01:54 PM

Hi...would like to get an invitation for a gmail account if anyone has one to spare. Thanks in advance.

Posted by: jaybeth at April 17, 2005 01:55 PM

I don't know whats up with the invites, i really don't. Just give the link that directs you to the opening account for gmail like this.

http://urlsnip.com/414337

It's that easy. * still wonders whats up with invites*

Posted by: bubbleboy at May 1, 2005 09:46 AM

I want decided to open a Gmail account but i can not find opening (gmail account) form

Posted by: Ramesh reddy at July 3, 2005 10:21 PM

how to open a gmail account in yahoo,google,rediff,etc....

Posted by: santhosh at August 15, 2005 12:59 AM

I loved my gmail account, but there is a week that i cant even opening the gmailsite. I signed in at yahoo but i wish i have it again. please help me

zahra

Posted by: zahra at August 26, 2005 03:16 PM

Ok i have to ask. Is it true, that gmail will be taking away attatchment ability altogether? There are ways around the whole EXE file thing but attatchments altogether? that for them would be suicide. Plz let me know.

Posted by: gamer3100 at September 7, 2005 05:41 AM

I agree with you the way you view the issue. I remember Jack London once said everything positive has a negative side; everything negative has positive side. It is also interesting to see different viewpoints & learn useful things in the discussion.

Posted by: extenders at October 5, 2005 04:38 AM


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