Gmail's Gold Rush

It is funny how computer people get attached to certain programs and services. Anyway, no other service provides such a clear example of this as Google. The Google search service is the mainstay of many (if not most) technical computer users. As a search service it is so effective and simple that most (habitual) users would tell you they could not live without it. This has allowed Google to branch their services out to other areas (building on the search engine) such as news, shopping, and now (the current tech's golden fleece) a Google email account; Gmail. And as usual Google made sure they did it right. They giving out a gigabyte of storage for each email account. This is roughly a little over a cd and a half worth of data, which is unheard of for free online storage. The combination of this amount of storage plus the lure of having an email account with the Google name on it has people lining up to get their hands on an account, myself included. What has made this even more interesting is the way that Google has gone about giving out accounts. Since the service is still in a closed "beta" status you cannot simply sign up for an account. Instead you have to receive an invitation from a current Gmail user. The original accounts were issued only to select individuals so they were able to invite their friends and so on with each wave of invitations that Google allowed the users to send. The demand for these invitations was so great that websites have been developed based entirely on obtaining a Gmail account. By using this invitation only system Google has been able to take the already high level of demand that existed for their email service and spin it into an all out gold rush. Even now, several months after they first started the process, people are still searching the net begging for an invitation. These invitations are already so numerous that if you want one you will more than likely be able find one online without having to resort to buying one off of Ebay. The good news is that the Gmail system actually lives up the hype and I have found it to be an excellent email system (though i wish that Google provided POP/SMTP support for it so that I could use Outlook). There really is gold out there so the rush will continue.