Google’s widely popular Gmail service is now a public beta, which means you don’t have to wait for an invitation to sign up, you can simply head on over to www.gmail.com and click on the “Sign up for Gmail” link.
In other Google related news, Google is going to start charging businesses for using Google Apps for Your Domain, a set of (currently free) web based applications which includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google Page Creator. According to Ars Technica, Google will probably sweeten the deal by adding Google Docs and Spreadsheets in the mix.
This is good news. Since noone else has a clear business model for their web application, why not let the big G pave the way but charging a (hopefully and probably very reasonable) fee for the commercial usage of their great web applications. If it works well, maybe the startups will have less trouble convincing users that there’s no such thing as free lunch, and that good applications - web based or not - cost money.
Public beta, eh? I wonder if Gmail will ever be out of beta. Perhaps the only reason they are still in beta is that if there should ever be any serious problems for anyone with it, they don’t have to take full responsibility for it, who knows?
Regardless, I’m glad to see that they are setting a standard for web-based applications. I have tested out Google Docs and Spreadsheets, but for now they’re not good enough yet to take over for good old Word (even for myself, and I’m a member of the Cult of Mac), but hopefully in the future I won’t be stuck with this point of view. Though I must admit, I am a little scared of the thought of completely moving the contens of my computer on to the world wide web - but as it seems now, it might just be the future.
@Lars-Christian: Well, as you say, it’s the future, and there’s no avoiding it. Google Apps for your Domain is a good product, and the fact that they’ll be charging businesses for its use (hopefully with a reasonable price) is the expected course of action.
About Gmail being in beta…well, it gives Google some manoeuvering space. It’s beta, so it’s free, and you can’t complain about it (;
Gmail has been a public beta for ages …i didnt recive a invite code and ive had my gmail account for over a year ..where u get your infro from ?