Google's new Gmail has a few quirks, but it works

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

MIKE WENDLAND: Google's new Gmail has a few quirks, but it works

April 27, 2004

BY MIKE WENDLAND
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

I've been e-mailing like a spammer the past few days, testing out the new,
soon-to-be-public e-mail service from Google called Gmail.

You're going to like this program. Google has spent a lot of time designing
a completely original and very useful tool.

But Gmail works differently. There are little quirks and Gmail distinctions
that are counter-intuitive to the way we use e-mail. You'll need some time
to get used to Gmail.

The biggest distinction is what has been the most controversial part of
Gmail -- Google's plan to include ads with each message based on its
content. Privacy advocates have wailed that Google's computers could be
compiling huge databases of information about our e-mail.

Google says that humans never eavesdrop on Gmail. A computer scans each
e-mail and then robotically displays four-line text ads based on certain
keywords detected in the message.

I'm what's known as a beta tester, meaning the version I'm using is not the
final one that Google will make available to the general public sometime
soon. The purpose of a beta test is to find problems and get them fixed.

To help me with my assessment, I enlisted the help of more than 100 readers
from all over the country whom I call on for advice, insight and help in
testing out new things like Gmail.

I asked my volunteers to write my Gmail account and include all sorts of
information in their message about their hobbies, families, jobs, cities and
other items of personal interest that would let me test the way Google
matches advertising to e-mail content.

Robert Howard from Atlanta sent me a two-line message that simply reported
the time he hit the send button on a previous message. Gmail included five
ads for photoelectric sensors and industrial automation equipment.

There was absolutely nothing in his message that had anything at all to do
with such things. But Google's robot keyed in on Howard's signature, which
lists his title as an engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute's
Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory.

Jeremy Furth e-mailed me a note that mentioned gardening, books, a Porsche
and his use of an Apple iPod. Gmail served three ads from different
companies selling iPods, ignoring the other interests.

Chuck Reti from Detroit commented on my Monday column about how ham radio
operators are still using Morse code as a means of communication. He also
wrote about his interest in photography, video games and home theater. Five
ham radio ads appeared.

I found the ads pretty unobtrusive, discreetly located at the far right hand
of the e-mail page. They are easy to ignore and no more problematic than the
ads we're already used to seeing when we use Google to do a Web search.

To me, the ads are an easy trade-off for Google's promise to provide
everyone 1 GB of mail storage. That is huge. Most users of e-mail will never
send or receive that much mail in a lifetime.

Gmail's most outstanding feature is the cogent and convenient way it
organizes mail by collapsible threads, displaying the messages in context
and sequence, just like conversations. All the e-mail is searchable.

Other nice touches include a spam filter, a spell checker and keyboard
shortcuts you can program.

I did, though, find Gmail has a slight learning curve. Read an e-mail and
then click the browser's back button on Gmail and -- instead of returning to
the previous page as with most Web-based mail services -- Gmail hangs up
trying to reload the page.

To navigate, you need to go to the in-box or the list of what Gmail insists
on calling "labels," but which all the other e-mail programs we're used to
call "folders."

But the more I use Gmail, the more I appreciate it. It's the most powerful
Web-based e-mail tool you'll find. It's going to be a huge hit.

Contact MIKE WENDLAND at 313-222-8861 or mwendland@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx