Some Readers Like Gmail, While Others Fear G-Men
In Monday's column we wrote about the new Gmail service from Google, which promises a huge amount of storage space along with some other perks, like easily searchable messages. Readers were split into three camps: Some were eager to sign up; others liked the idea but said they'd probably stick with an existing service like Yahoo Mail or Hotmail, out of convenience or habit; and others said "no thanks," believing Gmail presented a potential privacy threat.
Some comments have been edited. You can always drop us a line at
realtime@wsj.com -- comments will be posted here in Real Time Exchange on Thursdays. Remember: If you don't want your comments considered for Real Time Exchange, please make that clear.
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Arthur Holt writes: I signed up for Gmail informational updates within five minutes of reading the first press release. This is going to be as great a move ahead for serious e-mail users as Netscape was for the Internet. It can't come too soon. I don't actually trust anyone completely, but based on everything I have experienced, I trust Google more than anybody else online!
Sean O'Shaughnessey writes: Sign me up! Google's computers can read my personal e-mail for Web ads. I will click on them if I like them and ignore them if I don't. I get ads at Yahoo all the time -- but they are off-target and I never click on them. Google has the formula for advertising -- show me things that I am thinking of at the time and I am more likely to buy. One interesting thought that I haven't seen anyone contemplate: Google will soon have statistics on what we write to each other. This will allow it to pitch to the right kind of advertisers to buy words. In a year, what do you think we e-mail to each other the most: jokes, pictures, suggested dates for golf outings? I hope that we don't find that Americans are just using e-mail to send pornography to each other.
Clark Barbor writes: Anybody who signs up for GMail, as it is presently described, is a moron! We have enough people probing our computers and our e-mails. The FBI will be asking Google to "tap into" the GMail content for suspected terrorist activity. Who in the world needs 500,000 pages of e-mail storage, other than a Fortune 500 company? And who needs ads with their e-mail? Isn't spam bad enough? I have spent a good bit of money to prevent ads and popups from surfacing. I never have understood the fascination with free e-mail, at Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. There are several free e-mail programs with which you can collect mail from your ISP. If you travel, most decent ISPs have a WebMail function.
Audrey McFarlane writes: I am not inclined to switch from my Verizon, Yahoo and Netscape addresses because they provide enough mail storage and variety of addresses for different needs. But I was curious about the various features of the proposed service. When I got to the part of your article about advertising popping up or being attached to my e-mail, I muttered "No. Absolutely not!" to myself.
Joe Seigo writes: I would not sign up. Further, we are considering blocking the Gmail domain from our corporate e-mail server. Anyone who thinks Google is incapable of nefarious acts is a fool.
While its true that, in its current state, e-mail is anything but private, in Gmail, you will actually provide affirmative permission for a self-interested third party to review your e-mail for the purposes of sending junk along with your mail. Well-meaning staff who send home large e-mail files to work on -- which could be financial data, employee records, proposals or other sensitive data -- will be openly exposed. Multiply this by the millions of users, and the conspiracy theorists will flip!
I would think the Journal would take a more corporate-sensible perspective on this, rather than a gee-whiz college-student mindset. Sadly, millions of people will subscribe to a system that offers little other than the ability to store a pile of e-mail you don't read anymore. Gee, what a deal!
The Journal addressed some of these privacy issues in an article Tuesday.
Mike Hudson writes: Because of my active use of the service and the success I have with it, I trust Google implicitly. I've tried their other offerings such as Froogle, the search bar and others -- and in all cases, they have installed easily with no problems and work as advertised. Although Gmail is a limited beta for now, I've registered with Google for more info on Gmail once it becomes generally available. Regarding the prospect of ads being offered with Gmail, I have no problem with them provided they don't impact performance. But the moment they begin to be a nuisance, I'll begin to search for other alternatives.
Nancy Armstrong writes: I can't wait to be able to sign up for Gmail. I currently have a Yahoo account and I have to constantly delete my e-mails to leave room for new incoming mail. I am constantly being badgered to pay for more storage (I currently pay $9.95 per year for 10 MB of storage) -- how annoying. Google is a first-rate company with integrity. I'm certain that their e-mail platform will be far superior -- and the 1,000 MB of storage is incredible. They will win the war, but as a consumer, it is amusing to watch the sad and feeble efforts of others.
Mark Matson writes: Personally, I'll sign up for Gmail the moment it's available. As you mentioned, Google still generally has the public trust factor in their favor, and they would be foolish to squander it. Thus, it's very much in their interest to protect our privacy.
Steve Enton writes: I was always taught that "there is no free lunch." In order to get all these e-mail features described in your article, having to put up with some advertising is a small price to pay. It certainly is worth a shot. Besides, Google has created a new verb in the English language. How bad could their e-mail be?
Gmail会吸引新兴人类吗？
在本报专栏讨论了Google的巨大容量电子邮件Gmail计划后，我们收到很多读者关于Gmail的观点。读者的反应分三类：一些人可望立即注册；一些人觉得这个计划不错，但表示出于方便或习惯可能仍将继续使用现有的Yahoo Mail或Hotmail；还有一部分人对Gmail说"不，谢谢"，他们认为Gmail对隐私有潜在威胁。
我们编辑了部分读者的观点。
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Arthur Holt：在我读到第一条新闻稿的5分钟内，我就在Gmail上进行了注册，要求获得它的最新信息。对于严肃的电子邮件用户来说，这将是非常棒的一个举措，其意义如同Netscape之于互联网。它不能来得太快。其实我根本不会完全信任别人，但基于我的经历，我信任Google胜过网上的其他人。
Sean O'Shaughnessey：我要注册！Google的电脑能在我的私人电子邮件中插入网络广告。我要喜欢呢就会点击它们，否则就会视而不见。我的Yahoo邮件中一直都有广告，但都不是我想要的，因此我从不点击它们。Google有一个广告程式，能向我展示当时我想要而且很可能会买的东西。我有一个从未见别人考虑过的有趣想法：Google不久将提供我们写给各自的邮件的内容统计。这将让它瞄准合适的广告商购买其文字广告。一年后，你认为我们给各自发送最多的邮件是什么：笑话、图片、去打高尔夫球的约定？我希望我们不会看到美国人只是在用电子邮件相互发送色情内容。
Clark Barbor：那些照著GMail现在描述的情况注册该邮件的人都是些白痴！已经有够多的人来监视我们的电脑和电子邮件了。联邦调查局(FBI)将会要求Google"提供"涉嫌恐怖活动的GMail内容。世界上有谁需要存储50万页的电子邮件？谁想在他们的电子邮件中看到广告？垃圾邮件还不够糟糕的么？我花了不少钱阻挡广告和弹出窗口。我对人们对Hotmail和Yahoo等免费电子邮件的迷恋一直就不理解。现在有好几个免费的电子邮件程序可以让你在ISP那下载邮件。如果你外出旅行，多数服务良好的ISP都有网页邮件功能。
Audrey McFarlane：我不愿意将我的Verizon、Yahoo和Netscape邮件地址换过去，因为他们提供的邮件存储空间足够大了，而且多个邮件地址能应付不同需求。但我对GMail将提供的多种功能很好奇。当我看到《华尔街日报》上有关弹出式广告或附加在我邮件里的广告的文章时，我就自言自语道"不。绝对不要！"
Joe Seigo：我不会注册这个邮件。另外，我们在考虑阻止Gmail域名的邮件进入公司的电子邮件伺服器。那些认为Google不会做恶心事的人是傻子。
不错，在目前情况下，电子邮件完全是私人的，但用Gmail时，事实上你将允许一个自私的第三方检查你的电子邮件，让你的邮件充斥著垃圾邮件。好心的员工将那些可能包括财务数据、雇员记录、建议书或其他敏感数据等大容量邮件发送回家以方便在家工作，这将被公开曝光。
我认为《华尔街日报》会从更具公司判断的角度来审视这个问题，而不是像一个怪才大学生一样。可悲的是，数百万人会注册这个邮件系统，而它能提供的不过是存储一大堆你根本不会看的邮件。上帝，这算什么事！
Mike Hudson：由于我经常使用Google，而且颇为受益，因此我潜意识地就信任Google。我试过它的其他服务如Froogle、搜索条和其他东西，所有这些都很容易安装，没有任何问题，使用效果就同它宣传的那样。虽然Gmail现在还是一个有限的测试产品，但我已经在Google进行了登记，要求在邮件完全开通时获取更多有关Gmail的信息。
不管到时Gmail上的广告情况如何，只要不影响邮件系统的性能，对我来说就没有问题。但一旦他们开始让人讨厌起来，我就会开始找其他的邮件服务。
Nancy Armstrong：我都等不及要注册Gmail了。现在我在用一个Yahoo的帐号，我必须经常删除邮件为新的邮件腾出空间。我经常不得不付更多的钱以获得更大的存储空间（目前我每年付9.95美元，邮件容量是10兆），真麻烦。Google在诚实方面是一个一流的公司。我确信他们的电子邮件平台将是非常杰出的，1,000兆容量叫人匪夷所思。他们将赢得这场战争，但作为一个消费者，看到别的公司可怜兮兮无能为力的样子很好玩。
Mark Matson：就我个人来说，只要Gmail推出来，我就会立即注册。就如贵报专栏提到的，Google依然享有广泛的公众信赖，如果糟蹋了这种信赖，那会很愚蠢。因此，保护我们的隐私非常符合他们的利益。
Steve Enton：我受的教育有一条："没有免费的午餐。"因此为了获得那些贵报专栏描述的那些电子邮件功能，在邮件里贴些广告只是付出一个小小的代价。它当然值得一试。另外，Google都已成为了英语中的一个新动词。他们的电子邮件能差到哪去呢？
