A Gmail Account can help with your degree course
December 19th, 2006 by get a first class degree
Gmail (Google Mail) is the best free web based mail client around. During my degree I found it very reliable. It has a calendar linked to it which you can use to plan your degree work, plotting assignment deadlines etc. It can also be used as an ad-hoc means of backing up your degree work.
Advantages:
- Unlimited mail box size (starting at 2 GB and increasing with your consumption)
- Unlimited mail box allows Gmail to be used to backup files!
- Chat client which can be used with other Gmail users (useful for collaborating on with
- other students)
- Calendar utility, allowing you to easily plan your timetable / diary, and share this with
- others if you choose
- Powerful Google search can be used on your mail box, making it easy to find your stuff!
- Easy to tag (star) useful mails for quick retrieval
- Better spam filtering than other clients I have used
Disadvantages
- Privacy! Google are not really giving this tool away for free! They scan your mails and use the content to target advertising (visible on the left of the screen). Google promise not to actually read personal information, and I believe them, there is no commercial incentive to do this. That said, the fact that they are using personal data for market research does concern some people.
As mentioned, one of the most useful features of Gmail is the ability to mail large files back to yourself; thus backing them up, and having access to them from any machine with an Internet connection. Whilst you should not rely too heavily on this, it is a very useful feature. Google know people do this, and do not seem to object, I suppose its all useful information for their data miners!
If you create folders to organise your backups, and make good use of the search tool within Gmail, it does prove an effective backup tool, especially if you forget your USB disk!
In order to stop Gmail being used for spam (unsolicited mail advertising Viagra) you need to be invited (a mail is sent to your current mail account) by an existing member. If you ask around, it shouldn’t take long to find a Gmail user willing to send you an invite.