Hands-on GMAIL :

Pros :

1. Gmail notifier. A downloadable desktop tool to notify you when you get any new mail in your gmail inbox.

2. It is still a beta release. You still cannot sign up to Gmail. Existing users can send more invitations, though (probably upto 50 invitations). NOTE - Not all Gmail accounts have this capability to send invitations.

3. A wonderful search feature that can help search all the mails carrying a particular word in its default avatar.

4. Over 2 GB of storage capacity. Is being further increased, in real time.

5. Handy downloadable POP3 and SMTP configuration programs for different email clients.

6. You can add a Gmail feed to your RSS aggregator software and get updates about the new mails in your inbox in real-time. (Google calls this feature ATOM).

Cons :

1. Starred and Label - alike features. Star works as a kind of a special label. NOTE : You cannot create folders in gmail. Acc. to Google - "Gmail uses Google search technology to find messages so users don't have to create folders and file their individual emails." Ref URL - http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/about.html

2. Google Adsense program : Are there ads in Gmail? Yes, but they are small and unobtrusive. They don't fill half your screen and we don't make you read them just to get to your inbox. Ads are never inserted into the body text of either incoming or outgoing Gmail messages and you won't see any pop-ups or untargeted banner ads in Gmail. Gmail users only see relevant text ads, similar to those on Google search results pages . The matching of ads to content is a completely automated process performed by computers. No humans read your email to target the ads, and no email content or other personally identifiable information is ever provided to advertisers. Ads are matched using the same technology that powers the Google AdSense program, which already places targeted ads on thousands of sites across the web by quickly analyzing the content of pages and determining which ads are most relevant to them. Also check out this article from a critic of google policies - http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2003/11/24/as_google_grows_critics_emerge A discussion of the technology behind google ad-sense - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/article62.html

3. If you forward HTML mails from your Gmail account (mails that carry in-line images), they won't be sent to the recepients. Ref URL - http://stuff.techwhack.com/archives/2004/08/07/gmail-attachment-problems/

4. The maximum Gmail message size is limited to 10 MB. (I expected more from GMAIL)

For assistance with Gmail features... check out - http://gmail.google.com/support