10 Reasons – Why I like Gmail!
Nirmal has made a post, where he has listed 3 reasons for not liking GMail. However, the reasons which he has mentioned are the ones which I think are PROS of GMail and when Nirmal asked me, I thought that it will be the best way of explaining that why I find his, listed CONS as PROS of GMail and apart from that, my reasons of liking GMail :
1. The Skin or Interface : I think, that this is one of the best part of GMail, because the color combination (largely blue) which has been used in GMail is soothing to eyes. You don�t get blind even after looking at it for long duration. As far as Web 2.0 effects are concerned, then I think that it makes use of Keyboard shortcuts, quick compose window, on the fly attachment, auto save etc. and these do come in the Web 2.0 effects.
Creation of filters, searching of e-mails, selection of e-mails is much quick and fast in GMail as compared to any other email service. It loads up faster than Yahoo mail beta and Windows Live Hotmail, as it is mostly text based and hardly uses any images.
2. Labels instead of Folders : Well, to be honest there is no big difference in these two things. So, I really can�t say why it can be called as a Negative. If you apply a label and then archive that email, then you�ll not feel the difference between the two.
3. Who needs Drag and drop ? : Well, the good use of shortcuts will ensure that you won�t miss the drag and drop facility. You can get the list of shortcuts from here. If you press the # key then you�ll be able to delete the email too.
These points were the explanation of Nirmal�s question 
of why I think that his points are PROS of GMail instead of CONS of GMail. Now, I�ll list the other reasons of why I like the GMail -
4. POP and SMTP access : The only top email service which provides both POP and SMTP features and that too with secure connection.
5. Support for other accounts : GMail, allows you to display that you�ve sent an email from a completely different email address, however all the time you use GMail only. I maintain 5 different email accounts from one GMail account! Now, that productive!
6. Integration of Google Talk : GMail allows me to chat with my friends from with in, even if I don�t have Google Talk, installed on any computer.
7. No obtrusive or banner ads : GMail makes use of adsense and that too they are on the extreme right hand side and really don�t bother much but if you see other email services you�ll see Banner ads, flash based ads which take time to load and are always distracting.
8. Integration with Google Office : You can easily open Documents, Spreadsheets and presentations with GMail and which you can�t in other top email services.
9. Spam less inbox : GMail has got the best spam filter amongst all the email services and everyone will agree to me on that. It get very less false positives and hardly any spam email gets through in your Inbox.
10. UNDO Feature : I like the UNDO feature a lot, just in case you get to do something stupid and delete an important email, then you can simply go and press the UNDO button and it shows you the email back in place!
So, here are my reasons of loving GMail, which are those features which make you fall in love with GMail ?
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vaibhav
July 5th, 2007 at 7:46 am #
it seems like there going to a war between the Gmail lover and Gmail hater.
this comments section is expected to be filled with hot comments soon :)
My preferance:- I LOVE GMAIL…
what say guys
will be waiting to nirmal’s reply
kanak
July 5th, 2007 at 8:04 am #
3 dislikes vs. 10 likes. great post. But still I would love to have folders. Gmail has features which others dont have, so why not include folders which all email providers have and gmail dont. Moving into a folder doest crowd my inbox, But here applying a label still keeps the mail in Inbox (unless I archive it ).Moreover waiting for nirmal’s reply :-D
Pallab
July 5th, 2007 at 9:18 am #
I am also a big gmail fan. Top 3 reasons for liking gmail are :
i) Its fast
ii) Works in Opera
iii) Lists all previous communications with a person about a topic like some The Bat!
Venu
July 5th, 2007 at 10:00 am #
Yup I was also checking on Nirmal’s post. I also feel that the Label feature is as good as a folder.
However I would love to see the drag and drop feature. The way I have suggested to Gmail is that I shoud be able to drop the selected mail over a label and this should result in the selected mails getting labeled and archived.
Also as you mentioned, I love the GMail UI with no graphical Ads. Yahoo mail is a pain to use because of these Ads
kuanhoong
July 5th, 2007 at 10:10 am #
Wow, Gmail in sponsoring you guys for blog posts?.
Anyway, I am a big Gmail supporter. I used up 88% of my gmail storage space now. Opps!
reviewsaurus
July 5th, 2007 at 12:56 pm #
@ Vaibhav : Well, its not a war. Nirmal and me are very good friends and but preference can be different, I just wanted to explain that GMail rocks because of its simplicity :)
@ KanaK : Thanks for the appreciation. I would like to explain that why Labels are better than folders. You being a blogger know that sometimes, there are posts which fall under various categories and so you select two three categories for that. Similarly, there are various emails which may fall under various categories, so with labels you can put them in various different labels, but with folders, you can only put that email in a folder. So, effectively, Labels are better :)
@ Pallab : Yes, how could I miss that one ? I forgot to mention that Conversation like style is one of the greatest way of showing the emails! You can easily follow up the emails and you don’t have to run around in various folders to check where was the last message!
@ Venu : Well, indeed this is a nice idea. I’m sure that GMail, may incorporate any of such feature or may be give us a faster way of applying labels.
@ Kuanhoong : Nah! GMail, isn’t sponsoring us :D I’m glad that you like GMail too!
Well, believe it or not, but my friends have kept my nick name as GMail because when it was launched, I was singing the praises of GMail, so they kept my name as GMail and I do love that name :D
Shankar Ganesh
July 5th, 2007 at 1:32 pm #
One of the best things about Gmail is the spam filter – rarely a spam message reaches my inbox. Gmail rocks!
Bush Mackel
July 5th, 2007 at 1:58 pm #
Like so many others have said, you gotta love GMail’s spam filter. I also love how (like VISA) it’s everywhere I want to be. (#):)
Nirmal
July 5th, 2007 at 2:08 pm #
Ok…seems like everyone is waiting for my thoughts on it.
I can write a post saying 100 things I like about GMail. :-)
To make my point short, I dont use Gmail because of these 3 things. Hope I have made my PERSONAL opinion clear. :D :D
reviewsaurus
July 5th, 2007 at 2:08 pm #
@ Shankar : Indeed, spam filters of GMail just rock!
@ Bush : GMail has to be the complete email package..I’ve ever seen :)
@ Nirmal : I agree, personal choice is always one factor. But, strangely the points you mentioned in negtaives are the ones, I like about Gmail!
vaibhav
July 5th, 2007 at 2:33 pm #
@ reviewsaurus : yes, preferences can be different, but we were expecting nirmal to defend. But he is a great man with great thoughts.
Nirmal
July 5th, 2007 at 3:22 pm #
@Vaibhav,
I’m still defending against a huge army. :D
I still wont move from my thoughts on GMail. These are its short comings. :D
Vyoma
July 5th, 2007 at 3:45 pm #
Three words:
I use GMail.
Kyle Eslick
July 5th, 2007 at 3:49 pm #
I pimp GMail so much on my site that I fear the cops will arrest me. I somewhat agree that many of the “flaws” are actually “perks” in my opinion.
I can see, however, some of the frustrations Nirmal is having with it solely due to his IT job where he’s rarely on the same computer.
GMail is actually blocked at my work, so I just access it via my cell phone from anywhere, even when I don’t have access to a computer!
Nirmal
July 5th, 2007 at 5:08 pm #
@Kyle,
You are totally mistaken. I never said I’m frustrated with GMail… :D
I mentioned about changing systems only for the fact that installing grease monkey scripts is not a way to improve looks. :D
reviewsaurus
July 5th, 2007 at 5:09 pm #
@ Vyoma : Three words from me – SO DO I!
@ Kyle : I’m sure they won’t arrest you :). Well, as far as Nirmal’s frustration is concerned, I think it just that he may be so used to Yahoo mail or Windows Live Hotmail, that he doesn’t want to spend much time with GMail and that comfort level isn’t allowing him to try this service.
Indeed, that’s also one of the positive of GMail, that the mobile application is really useful, when it comes to checking the email through cell phone.
Vyoma
July 5th, 2007 at 5:23 pm #
Yeah. Most of the time, it is just because of ‘comfort zone’ and ‘resistance to change’. It is quite a natural tendency. We usually do not wish to go out of the comfort zone. And hence, there is always a resistance to change.
(This is especially true when I am lazing on the couch – it is my comfort zone, and I resist the change of venue of my hind and go to gym).
Ashwin
July 5th, 2007 at 6:04 pm #
Haha… great post. These days I’m using only GMail. I’m managing other accounts from GMail only. Also the speed is really in Gmail. Also the integration of feeds in Gmail also makes it attractive.
One other thing is this BetterGMail extension, it almost increases the value of GMail by several times and I love it. Now came to a situation when Gmail would suck without the extension! :D
GMail rocks and there should be no argument on this.
reviewsaurus
July 5th, 2007 at 6:17 pm #
@ Vyoma : Go and leave that couch right now!!!! :P
@ Ashwin : The integration of feeds isn’t the best according to me. I think they should integrate Google Reader in Gmail directly! The only problem will be that the application will become little heavier and will use lots of resources.
Better GMail extension is really a nice collection of those greasemonkey scripts.
Ashwin
July 5th, 2007 at 6:22 pm #
Yes maybe the integration is not that cool, but you know what? In my office, If I put in RSS in Gmail, no soul will know what I’m really doing! :P
Hmm… I’ve subscribed to this blog! :D
Madhur Kapoor
July 5th, 2007 at 8:53 pm #
I agree with most of the points . Though the interface is clean and simple , i think google should give a few choices to the users , it can get quite boring after a time .
10 points Gmail doesn’t buy me | The Unprotected Blog
July 6th, 2007 at 12:48 am #
[...] points Gmail doesn’t buy me This is in response to Mayank’s post on “10 reasons why I like gmail” and in support to Nirmal’s view on “3 reasons why I don’t like gmail“. [...]
Benedict Herold
July 6th, 2007 at 1:06 am #
Nirmal, I’m in for your support :-)
Mayank, I’m not buying any of your points here :-) I strongly disagree :-) lol
Nirmal
July 6th, 2007 at 3:44 am #
@Mayank,
You have got me wrong again.
I was one of the people who created an ID with Gmail when it was launched. And your opinion that I have not tested is not valid, without using Gmail how can I say about the negative things? :D
Now coming to your 10 points,
UI, “Who wants drag and drop”, Labels being superior to folders, office integration, no banner ads etc will find good only with Tech savvy people.
Points 4 & 5 are not unique with GMail, There are other TOP services offering POP access.
@Ben,
At least one person is there with me. :D
Benedict Herold
July 6th, 2007 at 4:17 am #
Vyoma, I agree with your points on comfort zone that resisting a change… I would be rather careful before electing to change. If you don’t have a comfort / smooth zone after the change , why should I need a change? I would stick with what I have :-)
Nirmal, I’m always with Yahoo Mail! till I find something better ;-)
Vyoma
July 6th, 2007 at 4:49 am #
Thanks ben, but there is one caveat to this as well.
If we do not stretch ourselves out of comfort zone – we never grow. :)
I am moving my a** out of couch, right now!
On that thought…. may be later. Who wants to grow? :P
Madhukar Reddy Gurram
July 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pm #
I totally agree with the contents in this post.
Those 3 CONS specified in nirmal’s post are really NOT negatives but they are positives for GMail, as mentioned in this post.
Who wants great graphics and banner ads at the cost of performance and strain to the eyes ?
I LOVE GMAIL and the list of reasons goes beyond what is mentioned here …
Sunday Review - ReviewSaurus | Blogging on Tech, Web 2.0 and Money Making Tips
July 8th, 2007 at 12:43 pm #
[...] 10 Reasons why I like Gmail [...]
Muscle Builder
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 am #
If Gmail is as good at blocking spam as they say then I will have to change some of my email accounts because I am getting spammed to death every day now. Spammers are the scum of the internet.
Tina Jack
April 1st, 2008 at 8:04 pm #
I like gmail and found it useful for lables instead of folders. I can have e-mails with multiple lables, but in other systems had to pick a folder and settle. I have addresses on more than gmail and I still them, but they each server a purpose and my gmail address is holding it’s own!
I also like the spam filter! I delete spam without a second thought.
Andrew
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm #
Gmail is by far the best webmail service ever. I switched from Yahoo! and never looked back. Gmail gets spammed like hell (I guess that’s because I use a common username), but their spam filters are simply amazing.
Sakib
December 26th, 2008 at 8:53 am #
an awesome posts and elaboration quite great and noted the most important things and specially spam protection. thanks gmail and thanks share with us.
fsimpro
January 20th, 2009 at 3:32 am #
totally agreed!
Luke Gedeon
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm #
"Who needs drag and drop?"
Apparently you like the keyboard better, so imagine gmail with a bunch of buttons and no keyboard options. Would that work for you? Every bit as much as you love the keyboard, others love the mouse. A good application, will give you both choices as much as possible.