Talk:Gmail

3/21/04 is an ambiguous date format. BrendanH 09:28, 2004 Apr 1 (UTC)

In this case, actually, no it isn't. Sorry to sound like a smartass ;)

Anyway, is this just a stupid april fools joke? Dysprosia 09:31, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Being very pedantic, I'll point out that I said "date format". The date is in this case is not ambiguous. Thanks for the change. BrendanH 15:17, 2004 Apr 1 (UTC)

You're right, and I was being annoying ;) Dysprosia 22:32, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The Gmail subject, as of April 5th, is gaining coverage in the media. We'd all appreciate someone adeptly polishing this article, especially the last paragraph which borderlines a gossip column. Keyword: encyclopedia. And is the April Fools controversy sincerely worthy of being mentioned repeatedly? Usedbook 17:57, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Roughly 1 GB? What metric are we using? There's two standards for measurement according to the gigabyte article.

A couple of gmail accounts

I have created a couple of gmail accounts, with usernames wikiwiki and wikipedian, the passwords are easy to guess (hint they have to do with Wikipedia, and they're both all lowercase), so whoever can do it can have them. I suggest you change the password soon afterwards though :) Quick in the draw 00:35, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Oh, and if someone guesses them, please post here, so others don't continue to try uselessly (or I might do it at some point). Quick in the draw 00:42, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Isn't there some danger that, seeing a bunch of wrong password submissions, google will automatically disable logins for that account? -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:00, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Maybe, for the first one, you have to be a pretty addicted to editing to get it, and for the second one, the password changes by only one letter from the login :) Don't grab them both please. Quick in the draw 01:03, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Thanks! That was fun, and I hadn't had the chance to try it out before, so I grabbed the first one. Rasmus (talk) 10:21, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I got wikipedian. The password was wikimedian. Guanaco 19:54, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Competition between different providers

Maybe what we need is to enlarge Webmail to include a list of current providers, showing the features which each offers; a possible alternative would be to create a new article at Webmail providers. Wherever we put it, this might then provide a useful resource for Wikipedians seeking such a service, allowing them to compare and contrast and eventually choose. Obviously a certain amount of policing will be necessary to avoid pollution by fans or detractors of the various services :-) --Phil | Talk 14:08, Jun 28, 2004 (UTC)

The gmail.com domain

Does the note about gmail.com previously belonging to Garfield refer to the Gmail software, or to the gmail.com domain? My guess is that it's the domain, but perhaps this could be made clearer?

Gigabyte = 1000 MB?

Please stop disputing this fact on this page. While I understand the controversy surrounding this measurement, this page is not the place for that discussion. If you have concerns over the way that Gigabytes are measured, please argue on the Talk page for Gigabyte. As long as the gigabyte article says that 1 Gigabyte = 1000 Megabytes, this page should reflect the same. Thanks. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 13:35, Jul 13, 2004 (UTC)

Incorrect Date (sort of)

The article says Gmail was announced on Mar 31, 2004, however it was actually announced on Apr 1, 2004 UTC. Local time would've been Mar 31, but Google obviously wanted it to be announced on Apr 1. You'll notice none of their press releases specify timezones except for the Gmail one. I think the article should simply state that it was announced on Apr 1, since that is when the press release was.

• List of Google press releases: http://www.google.ca/press/pressrel/
• Gmail press release: http://www.google.ca/press/pressrel/gmail.html

Gigabyte of storage

I sent the following email to google regarding the 1000 or 1024MB of storage because unless we really know for sure users here will probably keep on having this minescule edit war forever. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 14:50, 2004 Jul 23 (UTC)

I'm confused as to whether gmail actually has 1GB of storage, which
would be 1024MB or if it has 0.9765625GB of storage, which is 1000MB.
The support pages conflict on this:

http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6833
[...] A measure of data storage. A gigabyte equals about 1,000
megabytes (MB) [...]

http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7187
Because you have 1,000 megabytes of storage, you don't have to [...]

Could someone tell me just which it is, i myself think that it's 1024
because obviously that has to be kept track of using computer
hardware, and i myself doubt any programmer would artificially measure
a gigabyte in powers of 10 instead of the right binary powers of 2.

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately, the basic premise of your e-mail is that 1GB != 1000MB, which is the heart of the contention. The very first line assumes that they also equate 1GB and 1024 MBs, which is not the case with many hard drive manufacturers, etc. Once again, this is a debate for gigabyte, not this article. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 14:55, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)

Hey, I have a Gmail account and it has 1000mb, not 1024. Also, from there press release:

Storage: Google believes people should be able to hold onto their mail forever. That's why Gmail comes with 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of free storage – more than 100 times what most other free webmail services offer.

Of course the next question is are they measuring using real MB, 1Mb = 1024Kb = 1048576b. Gmail doesn't show the size of individual emails so it's hard to tell how they're measuring. - sik0fewl 21:47, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

New info in on this :) Kevin Rose of the Screensavers did a load test on Gmail by getting viewers to send him email with 5mb attachments (story here). His account ended up maxing out at 102% instead of 100%, most likely because the account limit is 1024mb (102.4% of 1000mb). Google is probably advertising 1Gb as 1000Mb so as to not confuse non-technical users. - sik0fewl 05:10, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, i saw that, we should put sources for that in and change it to 1024. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 13:58, 2004 Jul 27 (UTC)

That doesn't mean that the real limit is 1024MB. It just means that Gmail was being nice and allowed a little overflow buffer space. In fact, Gmail plainly states that you have 1000MB at the bottom: You are currently using X MB (Y%) of your 1000 MB.. Dori | Talk 14:45, Jul 27, 2004 (UTC)

Yes it does, this is the last remaining hint that confirmed that it indeed is 1024 ( e.g. a GB ) rather than 0.9765625GB. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 15:32, 2004 Jul 27 (UTC)

AAB, this is a very controversial subject, and the fact that your comments continue to assume that 1GB = 1024 MB on this talk page will only cause more and more of these revert wars. If you want to continue using that notation here, can you please argue that on Talk:Gigabyte? Most hard drive manufacturers will use the 1000 MB definition, and as we are talking about mass storage, that is the one that seems most appropriate. What I am most concerned with is that Wikipedia uses one standard definition of gigabyte. If you can convince the Gigabyte article to be changed to match your definition, I will have no problem with you using that notation here and on the article page. Until then, you should continue to use the notation that 1GB = 1000MB, and 1GiB = 1024MB. Thanks, DropDeadGorgias (talk) 17:13, Jul 27, 2004 (UTC)

So what if i think 1GB = 1024MB and you think 1GB = 1000MB? it doesnt matter, i'm not saying that we should put gmail offers 1GB (1024MB) of storage in the article, or that we should put gmail offers 1000MB (0.9765625GB) in there, i'm saying that we should in the light of recent events mention that this has been found to be in fact 1024MB, whether you think 1024MB is not one GB not one Xibilluglubb or anything else is really irrelivant, so is whether i think it's anything else.

Look at it this way, HappyPeanuts Inc. say they sell 1000Peanuts in a bag, however some guy went through counting all those peanuts and found them to indeed be 1024, now, it doesnt matter if we disagree on whether 1000 or 1024 peanuts to be the equivalent of one HappySquirrelMeal™, we shold nonetheless state that it has been found that in one bag of HappySquirrelMeal™ there are indeed 1024 peanuts rather than 1000 as it says on the bag. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 18:01, 2004 Jul 27 (UTC)

No it isnt, it's to clarify whether they really have 1024MB of storage or 1000MB as they claim, if it indeed is 1024 then that should be in the article. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 16:43, 2004 Jul 26 (UTC)

Username handling

I have tested this on my account, say snafu@gmail.com.

Sending email to snafu+test@gmail.com works fine.

Sending email to sn.afu@gmail.com didn't work.

So I think that the adding dots everywhere bit should be left out.