Agreed. This article from LockerGnome's Matt Hartley questions the buzz surrounding gmail, the new e-mail service from Google. I picked one up, but it wasn't easy to get, but here is a hint: having an account at Blogger helps! ;)
I think what Matt forgot to mention is that Google has good PR and a good corporate image; and for good reason.
First of all, their service works.
Second, their work is tastefully done. They don't flash advertisements or pop-ups at you. If Joe-Internet-User were to be asked how he/she wanted to see ads displayed, they would say: "Well, if we just HAVE to have them, there's some space off to the right, and keep the font size the same as the rest, and NO FLASHING and NO POPUPS!" Well, that's what Google did. Their site is simple, and easy on the eyes. Want to see how NOT to do it? How to be hard on the eyes How to look cluttered
Third, reading about the company, its hard not to like them. They are a bunch of real people who would be happy wearing jeans and working out of the garage. They don't take themselves too seriously. They don't think they are as great as they really are. (In an interview with the founder of Google, he rated the company a three on a scale of one to ten with ten being the best.) Also, they are up front about what they are doing. They also know that another group of 'nice folks wearing jeans and working out of the garage' could come along with better service and blow them right out of the virtual water.
Fourth, they are intelligently integrating their existing search engine service into the new e-mail service. Unlike places that have some spare server space and start selling e-mail accounts. G-mail takes full advantage of their search capabilities. Advertisements you see are searched out and filtered based on the content of the e-mail, which means they are much more likely to be releavant and useful to you.
These things add up to a company I would trust to provide e-mail service correctly. No doubt the current hype surrounding Gmail was meticulously planned by marketing, and designed through its 'exclusive invitation only' subscription method to have "a country club feel" as Matt puts it. In the end, Gmail is still a service that will make money for Google, but it doesn't seem like these people have sold their souls to Satan just yet.

Google on,
C

Labels: Cool Website, Praise