Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Google Drops 'Beta' Tag For Gmail And Google Apps

Google has dropped the 'Beta' tag for Gmail and Google Apps. Google had, accidentally or not, pretty much nullified the significance/meaning of beta; at least as applied to Google services. It is supposed to indicate warning of sorts for a service that is not fully ready. An almost "I told you it might" response to complaints of problems. Instead it became more of a joke. This is a positive critique of Google because rarely were there problems with Google's services that the Beta tag would indicate there may/should have been. There is no real technical significance to the tag being removed. It is more of an aesthetics change. If it makes you more comfortable, you can put the beta tag back using on of the labs (under the "settings").

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gmail-leaves-beta-launches-back-to-beta.html

"Some people thought that once we opened sign-ups, Gmail should have come out of beta.

Others said that once we integrated chat, developed new anti-spam technology, expanded to 53 languages, shipped a mobile app, added group chat, launched an iPhone UI, added a vacation autoresponder, launched Gmail Labs, subsequently modified the vacation autoresponder with a Gmail Lab, launched 48 other Labs, launched video chat, enabled open protocols and APIs (POP, auto-forwarding, IMAP, and the Contacts Data API), let you POP mail in from other accounts, added a delete button, rearchitected our entire javascript code base, and added key functionality to get large companies, startups, universities, and many other organizations (in addition to Google itself) running on Gmail, we should have come out of beta.

Some people think we should wait until we launch < one of ongoing secret projects >.
...
The end result (many visible and invisible changes later) is that today, beta is a thing of the past. Not just for Gmail, but for all of Google Apps — Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk.
"

See also http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-apps-is-out-of-beta-yes-really.html.

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