I recently moved to a new office and found that I couldn't send mail via Microsoft Outlook. I've had this same problem in different locations. I've been told that it depends on the ISP settings and it is easy to fix by contacting the ISP. That seemed like a pain, so this week I just started using Gmail as my default. I've not looked back. This is anecdotal and maybe I am a market of one, but it is a big deal for me. I have “lived in Outlook” for years. It was the one part of Office that I thought I would never replace. I suspect I am not alone.
I use multiple email addresses. I need to send and receive mail from company domains. That took me about 10 minutes to set up in Gmail. Once I had done this, I noticed two big benefits:
1. 99% of Spam was gone - poof. I had foolishly once put my email address on a web site in clear form where it could be collected by spammers and one of my accounts, managed on an Exchange server, was overrun with spam. Once I went to Gmail, no problem. I am sure I am missing a few valid mails that got incorrectly seen as spam, but that will eventually correct itself as people contact me some other way. When I am contacting somebody new by email I always now assume that overzealous spam filters stop my mail getting received, so I ask a contact who knows that person to forward my mail. That is a small price to pay for getting rid of spam and using contacts that way is obviously good for business as well.
2. Searching was much easier. There is debate about whether Outlook or Gmail has better search. Personally I find Gmail search way better than Outlook but that can be subjective and habit is a major factor in productivity. What I know for sure is that having both Gmail and Outlook makes search a real pain - you have to search in both mail systems if you don’t know which one you had used. That is significant. When time comes to make a decision, which one do you axe? I had that personal tipping point and switching to Gmail was a no-brainer. It just looks like a better long term way to go.
The reason Gmail looks like a better long term way to go is quite simply mobility. I can use Gmail from anywhere. I can change PC without even thinking about conversion. I don’t need to worry about not having access to my laptop. If my laptop is stolen/lost/destroyed and I have not been totally diligent on back-ups, no worries on that score.
I have some worries about a) losing connectivity and b) occasional performance/reliability issues on Gmail (which could get worse as they get more users). I hope that Gears will enable temporary offline use to mitigate those issues, but I have not tried that yet.
So Gmail as a client is a done deal. What about Gmail as the server? I don’t usually think about that level of IT. I am involved with a new start-up that needs to make that decision. We can run Exchange internally. Or we can use a hosted/managed version of Exchange. I am sure the future is with hosted/managed. Who can possibly view email management as core, who wants that internal overhead? So I was interested to see this thread on Slashdot. The news is that:
“LA hosting company DreamHost, which hosts more than 700,000 web sites, is encouraging its customers to use Google’s Gmail for their e-mail, rather than the DreamHost mail servers. DreamHost is continuing to support all its existing e-mail offerings, but said in a blog post that email is “just not something people are looking for from us, and it’s something the big free email providers like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google can do better.” DreamHost addresses a question about Google that has vexed many web hosting companies: is Google a useful partner, or a competitor that intends to make “traditional” web hosting companies obsolete? In this case, partnering with Google offers DreamHost a way to offload many of its trouble tickets, reducing the support overhead. Is Google starting to make web hosts less necessary?”
When you realise that you can easily use Gmail with your domain, the issue of appearing unprofessional in a corporate context by using an @gmail.com address goes away. For a start-up looking for a no hassle way to do email, this seems like a no-brainer.
Microsoft is clearly well aware of the threat to Exchange, which is why they launched their own Hosted Exchange offering in July 2008. This will put Microsoft in head to head competition with their hitherto partners who offered third part Hosted Exchange offerings. This game is now clearly all about economies of scale on those giant server farms, so we are likely to see email server hosting consolidate down to a handful of companies in the next few years. This is the normal and expected lifecycle for a commodity market such as email serving.
In this battle, the email client does matter, if only psychologically. If you feel wedded to Outlook you will probably go Exchange for your server. Gmail looks like it is moving purposefully from personal mail into small business. Hosted Exchange is also going after small business. Large enterprises switching off Exchange is still years way. The battle ground is around small business. The clear winner - small businesses that can profit from some real competition by the big guys.
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All my mails under private domains are now hosted by GMail.
The best of all is I don't have to setup mail server every time I moved sites to a new server and GMail's spam filter works very well (much better than Yahoo Mail as my experience).
Posted by: Jimmy | August 1, 2008 2:03 AM
But what about synchronized calendar and contacts and sharing of contacts?
GCal is a pretty great free online calendar utility, but it sure doesn't offer any over-the-air syncing abilities to my iPhone (or probably many more handsets that Exchange probably will).
And as far as contacts go, Google's current offering is dismal when compared to Exchange's capabilities.
I really was hoping that Google could fulfill my PIM needs because I really do like their products and you can't beat the price but I am currently using a hosted Exchange solution with http://www.mail2web.com to meet my needs.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the whole calendar/contact issue. Obviously different people have different needs but I still think Google has some catching up to do.
Posted by: Jordan | August 1, 2008 2:15 AM
I use Thunderbird via IMAP to a hosting provider that has excellent spam management. My spam is almost zero, search is great (no folders anymore), and I access email from four different machines. I can access email via my handheld, and read synced mail on a laptop that's offline. I can even use webmail if I need to.
Almost all of these things are provided by Gmail, but I prefer the privacy policy of my provider, especially given that everyone who sends email to me is subject to it, without knowing what it is.
Posted by: Dan Randow | August 1, 2008 2:21 AM
Bernard, I think what you meant to say was that you have switched from your ISP-provided email to Gmail. The client that you use to access your mail is irrelevant - you can still use Outlook to access your Gmail account.
The main reason you provide for "switching from Outlook" is that you couldn't send mail from a new office - that has nothing to do with Outlook, but is a common problem with ISP mail as they often require outbound emails to originate from their own network.
So although you may have reasons for not wanting to use Outlook anymore, the gist of this article shouldn't be that you are switching from Outlook to Gmail, but that you are switching from your ISP mail to Gmail. (and yes, I think that's a wise move - I never recommend that anyone use their ISP-provided email account.)
Posted by: stuartm | August 1, 2008 2:28 AM
I didnt get it, Do you mean you are hosting your private domain e-mail accounts with Gmail, How??
Posted by: FutureBells.com Tech Blog | August 1, 2008 2:36 AM
@Jordan
You can do "over-the-air" sync with GooSync (www.goosync.com). As a free subscription, it allows you to sync Google Calendars. I use it and it works very well. It basically adds a GooSync connection in the Sync menu on your phone.
@FutureBells.com
You can add private domain email accounts to Gmail by simply going to Settings > Accounts > "Getting mail from other Accounts". Therefore Gmail can be used as your global mailbox.
Posted by: Donovan | August 1, 2008 2:49 AM
How does Gmail work when you have a dozen mailboxes on a half dozen domains? Do they all get merged into your inbox? Doesn't that make it hard to separate things, or do you set up filtering rules to tag everything differently as well?
Posted by: Dan Grossman | August 1, 2008 2:55 AM
Hi Dan,
Unfortunately I don't have dozens of mailboxes on dozens of domains. I do have an extra 2 mailboxes on different domains. Basically when you add each extra mailbox, it applies a label for that domain and can set them to be automatically archived etc. This is just up to how you would like to handle the mailbox.
Gmail allows and option to send email from any one of the accounts you have added. So mail won't just be sent out form your base Gmail account as standard.
Posted by: Donovan | August 1, 2008 3:01 AM
I can use Gmail from anywhere. I can change PC without even thinking about conversion. I don’t need to worry about not having access to my laptop. If my laptop is stolen/lost/destroyed and I have not been totally diligent on back-ups, no worries on that score.
Posted by: Jeremy | August 1, 2008 4:24 AM
I had a "@world.std.com" account for years at 9 bux a month until I committed to gmail. All I can say is thank G-d.
You don't need gears to grab your off-;ine state. Get the latest Yahoo mail thingy client for IMAP....duh.....you know, the one they bought....Zimbra, and it will catch up all you mail locally.
Done and done.
Posted by: Alan Wilensky | August 1, 2008 4:29 AM
I've been using hosted Exchange for a couple of years now in my small company (fluctuates between 2 to 5 employees) and it has been very affordable and solved two of the biggest issues you discuss above - portability of data and spam. I use MailStreet as my host and they have an amazing spam filter which has just about eliminated all spam.
Also, losing connectivity is a big deal for me - if for some reason I can't get online, being able to see my emails, tasks, contacts, notes and journals is business critical for me. If you are just using Outlook as an email manager, you are missing out on a lot of the functions that quite frankly gmail just doesn't have - I use Outlook as my contact management software and there is no way I could do that with gmail or yahoo.
As far as multiple accounts go - you should check out Nutshell Mail - they are working on a very interesting solution for that.
Posted by: Misty Khan | August 1, 2008 5:14 AM
Hah, I am actually going back the other way now. I tried to live with Gmail/Gdocs (and no Outlook/Office) for a litte more than a year, and finally gave up. Too much hassle.
So now I'm back on Outlook - BUT I connect my Outlook to the Gmail account via IMAP. And suddenly I have usable contacts, calendar, and tasks again (don't underestimate that Tasks module, it's great!) AND all of this syncs to my smartphone. I don't send email to the phone, but the contacts/calendar/tasks there are a godsend.
And I get through my mail quicker, too. I'd love to have seamless sync of the calendar/contacts/tasks between Outlook and Gmail ... and maybe one day go back to all-Gmail ... but for now, Outlook is about 100% more productive for me.
Posted by: Bryan | August 1, 2008 5:57 AM
@FutureBells.com... also check out google apps for domains, great stuff http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/index.html
Posted by: david | August 1, 2008 6:22 AM
I have about 40 different email domains/addresses in the same GMail account. I absolutely love it.
The really powerful thing about it is the keyboard shortcuts. I can blaze through 100s of emails each day and according to RescueTime I spend less than eight hours a week in GMail. (My job is very email-heavy and I work 60+ hours each week, so this is significantly short.) The GMail Macros Greasemonkey plugin adds even more keyboard shortcuts, and I can't live without it.
@Dan, yes you can setup multiple filters if you don't want everything popping up in the inbox (and who wants that?). There are a couple email addresses related to specific clients that I filter that way, but mostly I filter by the content. I have an email address for each of my blogs, and there's no reason why I wouldn't want to see every new WordPress comment in the same place, regardless of the domain they were sent to.
Posted by: Marina Martin | August 1, 2008 7:13 AM
I too have switched my small business domains to google apps for your domains.
I love the conversation view of gmail. It is indeed easy to use google as a pop3 client to other mail servers if you wanted.
One drawback about multiple domains. If those domains are hosted at mail servers outside of google for your apps, then the receiver, depending upon their email client (outlook version) and security, will not see your sent by email address correctly.
For example, Let's say you have gmail set up to send email from:
somename@googleappsforyourdomain.com
somename@some-domain.com
somename@some-other-domain.com
When you send an email from someone@some-domain.com, the person on the other end may receive the email from someone@gmail.com
You can see this in the post that Lifehacker wrote:
http://lifehacker.com/376367/consolidate-multiple-email-addresses-with-gmail
Posted by: Scott Stawarz | August 1, 2008 7:17 AM
Outlook - I think I may have used it only about once in my life. Gmail is definitely the way to go. Accessible everywhere with ease, plus all of Google's additional tools/functions make the basic functions of traditional software free, easy, and online.
Posted by: Nicki B. | August 1, 2008 7:42 AM
I LOVE my Gmail but must confess I've recently decided to install Outlook because I like the way you can organize your emails in folders.
The search function on Gmail is great but sometimes I like to have things categorized better.
Great article. :)
Posted by: Rachel Phillips | August 1, 2008 8:21 AM
Welcome to the club! I have six e-mail accounts and, a few months ago, moved five of those over to Gmail, which is now my primary e-mail client. I haven't looked back either :) In fact, I now use Gmail's awesome web interface instead of accessing my mail via IMAP in Thunderbird as I'd originally planned to do. Ah yes, life is good :)
Posted by: Ameel | August 1, 2008 8:31 AM
I actually prefer Yahoo's (also now ymail) interface to Gmail -- it is similar conceptually to Outlook, but I do use both.
Posted by: Frank C. | August 1, 2008 8:43 AM
I actually use Gmail with Outlook thanks to the wonders of IMAP. It's not quite a 100% solution but it gives me great offline support (I spend too much time on airplanes!) - I do the same for Outlook on my Windows Mobile phone.
For Calendar Sync I use OggSync (on Mobile it does Contact Sync as well so I guess that's coming to the desktop version too)
Posted by: Offbeatmammal | August 1, 2008 8:57 AM
Outlook+Exchange FTW!
I'm in the same boat as Bryan...just can't seem to figure out why everyone loves Gmail so much.
Posted by: Mack D. Male | August 1, 2008 9:09 AM
What I don't get is how so many people seem to equate "web mail" with "gmail", like nobody else thought of this before Google, and there is no other way of doing it if you don't have Outlook. Geez, even Hotmail isn't that bad for Outlook types. Aside from trusting all your data to the company that declares that privacy does not exist (http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007374.html), are people really that blind?
Posted by: P | August 1, 2008 9:22 AM
@Jordan use http://nuevasync.com to get free push calendar and contacts on you iPhone. It works great with my Google Calendar and Gmail contacts.
Posted by: Alexandre Testu
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August 1, 2008 10:51 AM
It shouldn't be that hard - people should not have to set up complex third party apps in order to sync their mail, contacts and cal between Google and Outlook
Until this is sorted, or android phones arrive, or something happens there will continue to be major impediments to switching entirely
http://diversity.net.nz/gmail-and-small-business/2008/08/01/
Posted by: Ben Kepes
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August 1, 2008 12:39 PM
One thing turning many potential GMail users off is that AdSense strip Google adds to the right side the screen. You take a look at it and then you realize they are reading your email. Uhh, quite a few guys turn around and switch to other free email service b/c of it.
Posted by: parley | August 1, 2008 12:45 PM
I've noticed the same results for my personal emails on Gmail and have been very happy. At the office we still have to use Outlook. But it's been not too terrible spam wise since we are using SpamBully with it.
Posted by: David | August 1, 2008 1:39 PM
I did the same thing at the beginning of the year. I used Google Apps with email and calendar integrated together, can access it anywhere and find that my life is much simpler.
Outlook was a huge hog on my PC because I had years of emails in my pst file.
Outlook is dead to me.
Posted by: John | August 1, 2008 1:40 PM
# 2, Jordan. Its a tradeoff for me. Calendar and contact synch is not a big deal for me. I think MS has relied too heavily in the past on integration to sell constituent parts. Loosely coupled is the current way and Google get that. Re contacts, LinkedIn is a game-changer IMHO, my contacts are kept current and they are instantly usable and researchable. Whether my Blackberry, Gmail and LinkedIn are 100% synched is much less of an issue. Who cares about synching out of date contacts, it's garbage in and make-work. As to calendars, I don't spend all my time in office, so Blackberry calendar is my master calendar (could be iPhone in future). None of those things tie me to Outlook.
Posted by: bernard lunn | August 1, 2008 1:58 PM
I think email client is being confused with email host/provider. You can use Outlook with Gmail (which is what i do). You do need to change your outgoing SMTP server if you changed your ISP. That has nothing to do with Outlook or Gmail.
Posted by: Alex | August 1, 2008 2:53 PM
The great thing was that in the 1.5 hours I had after layoff notice yesterday, as I was scrambling to move all the music I'd bought from Amazon, my taxes and other personal information off the company machine (as a consultant it's our only machine on the road) -- I didn't have to worry about important email. I told everyone how to find me and I left.
The cloud is a comfortable place to be.
Posted by: Rotkäpchen
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August 1, 2008 4:54 PM
Gmail accounts are great for travelers who want to check and send email.
Posted by: Partners in Grime | August 1, 2008 5:26 PM
Our http://www.HappyTutors.com email is hosted on Gmail too - it's easy to setup and user-friendly, expecially for a new startup like us.
One feature that we really like for Gmail compare to other email applications is that Gmail allows you to mark(with stars) your important client emails so that you can easily go back to check them if needed - considering you are recieving emails from your cusotomer everyday!
Happytutors.com
~Connect Tutors with Students & Parents~
Posted by: Happytutors.com - Connect Tutors with Students & Parents | August 1, 2008 8:31 PM
While *you* chose Gmail over Exchange, and thus framed this story, you seem to insinuate that these are the only two options for email. What about Yahoo Mail? MobileMe? Self-hosted email? Are there really only two email optionos available.
Don't think so.
Posted by: Aaron Brazell
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August 2, 2008 12:27 AM
I agree on the Gmail thing, when I turned freelancer I didn't have the money for the whole Office thing including word.
although i find a week a bit short to draw these conclusions
Posted by: Gertjan | August 2, 2008 5:12 AM
The only reaason why i'm still using outlook is that i can synchronize the calender with my hp ipaq 510. is there a way to do this with gmail?
Posted by: Markus | August 2, 2008 9:16 AM
I don't get why everyone is so nuts over gmail. it's a free webmail account! it's ultimately no different than hotmail, yahoo, etc etc. I would never rely on any of those companies for my business or personal communications. the only purpose for these types of accounts, IMHO is for filling out comment forms on blogs, signing up to certain newsletters, etc. I also agree that the subject of this post is a bit muddled. we are talking about applications, hosts and a variety of other things.
I've tried just about every setup possible, and I've gotten back to being happy using outlook. all my email is handled through my web host (I use my own domains, not ISP or free webmail accounts), and I can still access my email from anywhere through my web host's webmail system. it's easy as pie. and I have all the control I like through outlook for organizing, viewing, flagging, filtering and viewing my email. I have all the indispensable contact and calendar tools, etc that make outlook so useful.
the hype about gmail is something I just don't get at all. it makes me wonder what's in the water, that people are so ga-ga over a huge corporation like that. are people just not doing any analysis at all? hmmm...
Posted by: mave | August 2, 2008 1:15 PM
I have been using gmail for 8 months now with multiple accounts (including work) and don't see going back!
Posted by: Joe Moraca | August 3, 2008 12:05 PM
Is Gmail about to come out of beta? This post is eye rolling until you put it in context with Lifehackers similar post a couple weeks ago. Is this the result of two Gmail fanboys getting carried away only two weeks a part, or is Google pitching business functionality to tech enthusiasts via highly respected blogs. Is the TechCruch and GigaOm posts coming later this month? Gmail is far from being ready for business and as another commenter mentioned, Yahoo Mail is a lot further along than Gmail. Why no mention of Yahoo?
Posted by: DP81 | August 3, 2008 1:08 PM
I am a Mac user with a desktop machine, a laptop and an iPhone. I used to have hosted Exchange for my email so that I could keep all three of my computing devices in sync.I signed up for Google Apps and had Google take control of my company email. This means I can see email in a browser and also set-up through IMAP on either Mail.app or Entourage. You can do the same for Outlook.
Benefits:
1 ) Cost - Exchange was $10-$20 a month based on storage. Google Apps is $50 year.
2) Sync: For email IMAP is as good as Exchange. Read or delete an email on one devices and the other devices change accordingly
3) Calendar & contact syncing. Google calendar is best of breed. 1-click to create an event. iCal takes 4 to achieve the same event. I use Spanning Sync to keep iCal & GCal in prefect sync. Inversion 2 they will add sync for contacts as well
3) Access - If you can get to a live browser, you can access all tools
4) Supporting tools: All my employees have a customized company iGoogle page. This includes a dashboard of email, contracts and calendar as well as Google docs loaded with useful company templates. I also have a built in Google spreadsheet form for submitting expenses reports or requesting a new project number be set-up. I have a delcious feed on the page that shows a list of articles I think my team will enjoy.
4) Email management: This is a hybrid. I like to do email clean-up in Mail.app. I can detach and file attachments while keeping the original email. I use GMail for searching my email.
Bottom line...
IMAP is what makes GMail powerful. It means it can be viewed in a browser and in the mail app of your choice. No decision to make, use both simultaneously and in sync.
Posted by: Charles Willson | August 3, 2008 2:45 PM
I'm surprised nobody mentioned Thunderbird, an open source Mozilla product to compete with MS Outlook but with customized add-ons and themes like Firefox.
If you want the agility of GMail but can't deal with the "on behalf of" quirk that Scott mentioned above (when he linked to Lifehacker), consider T-bird.
Posted by: Ari Herzog
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August 3, 2008 3:24 PM
While I have a gmail account, I use the Thunderbird e-mail client for most of my e-mail. Works beautifully. Spam filters actually filter spam for instance, which is something Outlook never seems to do. Combine it with gmail, and it's almost perfect. It downloads my gmail account just like any other, giving me offline access to all my e-mail.
Posted by: Douglas T | August 4, 2008 6:58 AM
There is a middle path. Many of us are so used to Outlook that it feels cumbersome to use any other client. At the same time Exchange is a huge cost burden.
HyperOffice is a web based application which allows users to set up their Outlook accounts like exchange were running in the background. Only its not. Users can use Outlook or HyperOffice's online client to manage their corporate information (mail, contacts, tasks, calendars, folders) and everything is kept in sync. Moreover it allows companies to set up dedicated email - @yourfirm.com, which is certainly more impressive than a @gmail.com extension. It's also got many other collaboration tools thrown in - intranet/extranets, document management, forums etc, which you might or might not choose to switch on.
Posted by: Keep Outlook & Flexibility | August 8, 2008 7:43 AM
Gmail is great because they delete my spam messages for me. I just let it overfill and Gmail deletes them as they come.
When I don't feel comfortable giving out my main email address, I just give out my Horsebanger.com email address.
Posted by: World's craziest email | August 16, 2008 8:46 PM
I dumped MS Office / Outlook 2 weeks ago in favor of OpenOffice for productivity (free, and no conversion or readability issues). I miss being able to sync my calendar and contacts on my Palm Tungsten only a small amount - I don't pull my email onto the Palm - and am switching to using GMail as the client for my "home" email so I can access it at work or while travelling.
Posted by: Rick | August 19, 2008 9:19 PM