August 13th, 2008
Google adds two new features to Gmail for Google Apps
Only a couple days after “the outage”, Google has responded with a couple new Gmail features that I’m sure some users will be happy about. Before we get to the new features, I should mention that Google has apologized for the inconvenience caused by a problem with the “contacts system” in Gmail.
We heard loud and clear today how much people care about their Gmail accounts. We followed all the emails to our support team and user group, we fielded phone calls from Google Apps customers and friends, and we saw the many Twitter posts. (We also heard from plenty of Googlers, who use Gmail for company email.) We never take for granted the commitment we’ve made to running an email service that you can count on.
The new Gmail features are small, but address two important issues — usability and security.
When users are used to other mail clients, there is one feature in Gmail that gets on your nerves — that is, you can’t select contacts while composing your message. You used to be expected to know someone’s name or email address, then begin typing it to get a list of users. Now, you can simply click on the “To:” to bring up your contact list, like in most other mail applications.
The second feature is important for security. Administrators can now enforce the usage of SSL, which can keep all traffic going to and coming from Gmail completely private, and basically invisible to anybody trying to sniff your packets.
What do you think of these new features?
Garett Rogers is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
