California: Your favourite webmail service Gmail has turned 10. Launched April 1, 2004, Google’s simple, user-friendly inbox today is an undisputed leader in email and related services.
In 2004, Gmail arrived as an invitation-only product on beta platform.
After several design changes, it finally dropped the beta label in 2009.
In Gmail, Microsoft offered a spam-free inbox with integrated search tool and loads of storage capacity that was enough to beat the rivals.
It was Gmail that gave webmail a slick snappiness more akin to a desktop application.
“It left clunky old Hotmail in the dust. New messages just appeared, chat windows popped up instantly – all without a browser refresh. Today, we all expect websites to behave like real applications,†a report in wired.com said.
No special software was required. You never had to worry about storage. It was always there.
There were no messy connections, just a simple password login.