Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google
Gmail (et al) finally exits beta! Well, at some point today...
In perhaps the most shocking news to ever rock the Internet, Google has announced this morning that the beta tag is finally off Gmail (!!!) along with Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk. The change applies to both consumer and enterprise versions.
As the Orly owl rightly noticed in my inbox, the tag hasn't disappeared quite yet. The change will likely occur as it has with many other Google app rollouts, taking place at exactly some time today, and may happen at various different some times depending on where you live.
The official blog post states Google has "come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase." Also, it's been FIVE YEARS. I'm pretty sure human children exit "beta" faster than that.
But hey, if you've grown kind of attached to the beta tag over the years Google has added a setting you can toggle to turn it back on. Awwe, isn't that sweet?
As the Orly owl rightly noticed in my inbox, the tag hasn't disappeared quite yet. The change will likely occur as it has with many other Google app rollouts, taking place at exactly some time today, and may happen at various different some times depending on where you live.
The official blog post states Google has "come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase." Also, it's been FIVE YEARS. I'm pretty sure human children exit "beta" faster than that.
But hey, if you've grown kind of attached to the beta tag over the years Google has added a setting you can toggle to turn it back on. Awwe, isn't that sweet?
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kyle said 11:40AM on 7-07-2009
Maybe now that they figured this out, they can restore SMS and build a native iPhone app that pushes!
Reply
Cam said 12:38PM on 7-07-2009
I'd like to quote the blog post.
"More than 1.75 million companies around the world run their business on Google Apps, /including Google/"
Oh, you don't say?
Reply
Dan said 1:07PM on 7-07-2009
LOL@Google making the beta tag available.
That's such a waste of a feature. There was time and effort to put that in, yet the integration between Gmail & Google Voice is bad, the same themes have been available since they first rolled out and I feel like by now, Google should have an option to hide the Spam count. Sure I could use Better Gmail or some Greasemonkey scripts but I'm shocked that they haven't done this yet. To date, I haven't gotten ONE false positive.
Don't get me wrong, I heart Google but sometimes they do silly things. iGoogle side bar addition/tab removal anyone? :P
Reply
Greg said 1:17PM on 7-07-2009
I confirm as of 12:16pm CDT that google has removed the tag. Yay! Finally.
Reply
Fianno said 1:53PM on 7-07-2009
@ Dan: you can hide the spam folder now, its thats any good. the new update google brought out about a week ago lets you rearrange the folder.
yay on gmail leaving beta
Reply
Martin said 2:10PM on 7-07-2009
Now did they ever create folders and a way to sort out your mail?! I cannot stand Gmail because its all just there and you have to weed through stuff or search, and you never have a nice clean in box.
Reply
Peter said 2:54PM on 7-07-2009
Haven't you heard of archiving? My Inbox is almost always clean.
Martin said 3:01PM on 7-07-2009
Ummm, Yeah I have heard of it, but it isn't the same as having seperate folders so you can just go through specific things. Yes I know you can label things, then just look at those which can be a nice feature, but why can't they just do simple folders too, which are nice because you can filter emails straight into the folders and never have them touch your inbox...
Just saying, that is what turned me off of gmail...
Peter said 4:16PM on 7-07-2009
"you can filter emails straight into the folders and never have them touch your inbox" - you can do the same exact thing with labels.
Create a filter and on the second page select the box "Skip the Inbox". That moves it directly to the "label". It won't touch your Inbox.
Blue said 3:06PM on 7-07-2009
I like your screenshot. The owl is priceless :)
Reply
Lee Mathews said 3:08PM on 7-07-2009
I know he's totally outdated, but I couldn't help myself....
Niels van Dijk said 10:34AM on 7-08-2009
Remember when he died? That was a sad day.