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You've Got Mail

On April 1 of this year, Google announced the beta version of a new email program, Gmail, that would give users 1 GB (1000MB) of storage. In return, users would allow Google to send them various automated ads related to content in the messages received. This created a storm of controversy over alleged privacy issues which ignored or deemed irrelevant that Gmail was a voluntary program. Some viewed Gmail as an April Fools hoax. One gigabyte of storage? At the time, Yahoo was offering 6 MB.

As far as I know, Gmail is still in beta, with access limited to invited guests. In the meanwhile, Yahoo has raised their limit to 100MB. Yahoo also no longer counts spam as part of your storage quota. For 19.99, Yahoo offers 2GB of storage.

I still don’t know whether Gmail will really launch or how attractive it will be. But Yahoo must be worried about it. Competition is wonderful.

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