Gmail is (finally) out of beta.

Today is an exciting day in the world of Google.

As I'm sure many of you already know, Google is not just a search engine. For more than 5 years now, Google has offered web based services for email, documents, calendars and chatting. These services, called Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Talk, have been used by millions of people around the world, but there has always been one thing that is strange about them. For Five years now, they have been in Beta!

Just in case you need a reminder, here is the definition of Beta:

"Beta is a nickname for software which has passed the alpha testing stage of development and has been released to users for software testing before its official release. It is the prototype of the software that is released to the public."

Obviously, this does not quite match Google's definition of beta. Over the years, many people (including me) have wondered if Google would ever take their products out of the beta stage. Well, today is the day. Just yesterday, Google announced that they would be officially be taking Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google talk out of beta! This is great news, seeing that it probably should have been done nearly four years ago.

PS: For those of you that use Gmail and still like that "beta" feel, google made it so you can still have the beta logo at the top of your screen. Just go to the "labs" link and turn on the "back to beta" feature.

~Gary.

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