When will the Gmail beta end?

January 10, 2005 5:02 AM

I'm a Gmail user, and although I have no real idea... it seems like they have been beta testing for a long time. Is it normal for it to go on this long, and when are they likely to end the beta period?
posted by The Thnikkaman to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

I guess you could say that Google beta tests the hell out of every product they have. Another way of putting it is that once they remove the beta tag off the service, they generally will have to offer better support. It's easier to slough off client problems if your way out is the all-important beta tag.

That being said, it's a free service so I'm sure what people are really expecting anyway. I've used it for awhile and I have had no problems or instances to complain about.

I saw some 2005 prediction site claim that it should get out of beta this year. I originally thought that they might coincide the full release with their public IPO... meh, no one knows.
posted by purephase at 5:17 AM on January 10, 2005

I'm also not sure why they're still in beta. I've had invitations that I couldn't get rid of for the last few months, and I think essentially anyone who wants a gmail account has one at this point. My guess is that they're still in beta is because someone important has said "this is a list of functionality that we want to release with", and they aren't there, yet.

Just for comparison, Gmail public beta started last April 1 (9 months ago), and Blizzard's World of Warcraft beta (the only other recent wide public beta I can think of) lasted from March 18 to October 29 of last year (roughly 7 months).
posted by Plutor at 5:22 AM on January 10, 2005

I've often wondered about the lengths of Google's beta periods. Google News is still in beta, and that's been like that far longer than Gmail. Maybe one day, when they can match thumbnails to the appropriate headlines, they'll take off the 'beta' label.

I'm with purephase: it's far easier to palm off this kind of stuff indefinitely with a beta tag.
posted by TheDonF at 5:56 AM on January 10, 2005

I'm sure it's a marketing ploy.
posted by Captaintripps at 6:54 AM on January 10, 2005

A couple weeks ago a bunch of people wrote about this beta trend. Check out this Hypergene post titled, "The Bastardization of Beta". It's got some great links. Here's an excerpt from the first paragraph:

It seems that every new web application now sports a ‘beta’ tagline. Furthermore, it seems to stay that way for an indeterminable amount of time. This begs the question whether the ‘beta’ term has lost its definition.

posted by nbrier at 6:58 AM on January 10, 2005

As far as I'm concered gmail is still in alpha 'cause it isn't feature complete yet.
posted by Mitheral at 7:17 AM on January 10, 2005

I've often wondered too.

Google news, the search tool bar, almost everything other than the search is in Beta, and has been for years.

I kinda ignore it.
posted by xammerboy at 7:23 AM on January 10, 2005

Yeah, until the attachment problems are fixed (I frequently have problems trying to send files of any size, particularly jpgs and gifs, to non-gmail addresses) I'd hesitate to even call this a beta.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:23 AM on January 10, 2005

Slightly off-topic... I read somewhere that Google News is still beta because they haven't figured out how to make money off it. The real problem being that if they do start making money, their "fair use" of bits of news stories starts becoming unfair.
posted by Aknaton at 7:34 AM on January 10, 2005

Gmail will get out of beta "when Larry thinks so".

"Larry" is Larry Page, Google co-founder, and apparently, there's more to do/improve according to him.

I'm 100% sure I've read this quote somewhere, just can't recall where exactly.
posted by kchristidis at 7:42 AM on January 10, 2005

flickr's been in beta forever as well, it seems.

I still can't get Gmail to load properly the first time, every time, on Safari (about half the time, it stalls on a red "Loading..." block), so I don't think the beta status is entirely without merit.
posted by mkultra at 8:16 AM on January 10, 2005

Google's notorious for incredibly long betas. They also keep a steady stream of such betas coming out as often as possible, in a "throw everything and see what sticks" strategy.
posted by jefgodesky at 9:25 AM on January 10, 2005

I can't do Gmail on Safari, either, mkultra.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:53 AM on January 10, 2005 [1 favorite]

I still can't get Gmail to load properly the first time, every time, on Safari (about half the time, it stalls on a red "Loading..." block), so I don't think the beta status is entirely without merit.

wow. i've never had gmail load on safari. which is what finally prompted me to switch to firefox on the mac too.
posted by fishfucker at 10:15 AM on January 10, 2005

I don't have any complaints with Safari (1.2.4) with GmailStatus (1.0.1) installed.
posted by boost ventilator at 11:55 AM on January 10, 2005

I have the same problem mkultra on FireFox/XP Seems to be some weird state thing as I haven't been able to detect a pattern.
posted by Mitheral at 12:02 PM on January 10, 2005

Does Firefox's 0.1-0.10 count as a beta? Granted, it's out of that now.
posted by NickDouglas at 12:47 PM on January 10, 2005

FYI, for those having the problem w/Safari- it usually loads fine after a reload...
posted by mkultra at 12:48 PM on January 10, 2005

I just tested GMail on Safari, IE for Mac, and Firefox, all on OSX 10.3.6. They all worked fine. Even multiple times.

Try updating your software and see if it makes a difference. I never tried with older versions, so that could be the issue.
posted by purephase at 12:56 PM on January 11, 2005