Gmail no longer Beta
By Shalini Singh

More than 35 million Americans use the Google Mail system known as GMAIL.  These figures are matched in other countries as well.

Gmail was launched on April Fool’s day in 2004.  While some thought it was a Google joke, the search engine giant itself has a clear vision for the future.  And Gmail was an integral part of its Google Apps.  Backed by Google technology and tens of millions of dollars, Gmail soon became a success. I have a Gmail account and never had a problem with it.

According to Wikipedia the Gmail project was initially known by the code name Caribou, a reference to a Dilbert comic strip about Project Caribou.

And the joke continued till July 7, 2009.  Since, 2004, Gmail has been presented to the public as a Beta product. Beta software is pre-release versions of the software given to the public to test out and report back the problems.  As it is Beta, it is not expected to work perfectly and there is less legal and moral pressure to resolve issues as compared to a full fledged commercial product.

More than 140 million people use Gmail worldwide. Many have actually being paying for it as part of the Google Apps Service.

Yesterday, on July 7, after 5 years, Google finally announced that Gmail would no longer be labeled Beta.  Only software companies can get away with having a Beta product in the market for 5 years.