-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Have you ever ordered a product online and received a fake knock-off?
SA companies launch rival GMail.co.za
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
just like webmail- why should that be important to them? Perhaps they will sell your private info to job hunters later down the line..
Targeted advertising.
gsolutions
Member
Gardale Solutions and Webmails views
Hi everyone
Let us clarify a few questions we have been asked a lot, as well as explain what we hope to achieve going forward.
Gmail.co.za was registered on the 4th of August 2003. The name was derived as an abbreviated version of Gardale Mail. The service was launched as a result of numerous requests we have had from clients and fits in line with what we offer as an ISP.
You will notice that yes the interface is not the greatest at this stage, however we have been working closely with webmail.co.za to neaten up the interface in the short term, with a full new system to go live in the long term (within 12 months). You will already notice there are no popups, there is not a floating advert, and there are slightly less adverts on the home page when comparing it to the webmail offering. This is as a direct result of our involvement with them, and their willingness to improve upon the service.
Let me re-iterate, we understand that what is currently available needs a lot of work, but webmail have been very welcoming of ideas around taking the service to the next level that will put us in a position to become a world class offering. Our involvement with webmail is based on similar values and principles that we are working hard to achieve, so that the users of the service receive the best possible interface and functionality. Unfortunately there are certain legacy issues which go back to long standing relationships with partners, which we are working on.
We have created a mailbox for feedback and would welcome any constructive feedback as to what you would like to see from a South African offering. [email protected]. Points such as the interface and long registration process are being looked at currently.
We thank you for your interest and take the feedback posted on the forum very seriously.
Hi everyone
Let us clarify a few questions we have been asked a lot, as well as explain what we hope to achieve going forward.
Gmail.co.za was registered on the 4th of August 2003. The name was derived as an abbreviated version of Gardale Mail. The service was launched as a result of numerous requests we have had from clients and fits in line with what we offer as an ISP.
You will notice that yes the interface is not the greatest at this stage, however we have been working closely with webmail.co.za to neaten up the interface in the short term, with a full new system to go live in the long term (within 12 months). You will already notice there are no popups, there is not a floating advert, and there are slightly less adverts on the home page when comparing it to the webmail offering. This is as a direct result of our involvement with them, and their willingness to improve upon the service.
Let me re-iterate, we understand that what is currently available needs a lot of work, but webmail have been very welcoming of ideas around taking the service to the next level that will put us in a position to become a world class offering. Our involvement with webmail is based on similar values and principles that we are working hard to achieve, so that the users of the service receive the best possible interface and functionality. Unfortunately there are certain legacy issues which go back to long standing relationships with partners, which we are working on.
We have created a mailbox for feedback and would welcome any constructive feedback as to what you would like to see from a South African offering. [email protected]. Points such as the interface and long registration process are being looked at currently.
We thank you for your interest and take the feedback posted on the forum very seriously.
Thanks for the info. Do you expect to have any legal problems with Google?
medicnick83
Paramedic
Working with Webmail?
Snot man - it is webmail in every way!
I registered and the site is COVERED in the filth of Webmail.co.za !
Snot man - it is webmail in every way!
I registered and the site is COVERED in the filth of Webmail.co.za !
gmail.co.za is worse than nothing and they don't even offer the 10gigs that they were talking about. I just joined it and they are completely unoriginal and use it. They had better sell the domain to Google. they definitelt would make better use of it.
...and nearly six years on, this is the product that 'goes live' ? Please...
gsolutions
Member
I would prefer not to go into all the nitty gritty, however we have checked our bases. Here is a brief overview..
Gmail.co.za was registered before gmail.com without any knowledge or intent. We have operated as an ISP and continue to do so. The free email service is a service that we have decided upon, based on requests we have had from clients and fits into our service offerings as an ISP. In no way do we promote it as a Google service.
Hope that answers your question!
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
I believe you're still going to battle to justify this if Google decides to take it up.
Google mail is a well-know established product by now with a gazillion users world-wide. A normal person would be quite correct to assume that if he wants to access a local instance, he'd type in gmail.co.za.
He'll then get to a service that might make him believe it is in fact Google's product (a webmail service).
The problem you're going to face is not proving that you registered the domain a long time ago but rather that you only now started to operate a service on it, long after Google's Gmail got established.
Since this is a new service, why not change it to something that won't be problematic?
Ant_Brooks
Well-Known Member
Do you perhaps you mean "Gmail.co.za was registered before Google launched its Gmail service"? Because gmail.com was registered in 1995, long before gmail.co.za. The gmail.com domain was used by US Email to provide mail services as long ago as 1996. Thereafter the domain seems to have belonged to NetConcept until early in 2004, when Google (presumably) acquired it to use for their service.
rwenzori
Honorary Master
Well, I suppose it is quite sweet of you to actually be here and be prepared to take flak, but the "next level" is but one up from gutter level, and you have a stairway to heaven to climb to be "world class".
rwenzori
Honorary Master
As those other owners took no steps to dispute the .co.za registration or protect their name, and had no global brand ( that we could see anyway ), I would think that counts in favour of the local registrant.
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
Not so much anymore. Nowadays the way the domain is used (or not) carries more weight.
rwenzori
Honorary Master
As gsolutions seems to imply that it was in use prior to Google's use, my point would stand I think.
sunsoffun
Expert Member
how lame can a company get.... LMAO!
vodacom3g
Vodacom Representative
Let's see what comes out when Google picks this up.
medicnick83
Paramedic
I have a friend who works for Google, when I showed him the URL - he just laughed and said "oh boy" - said he would forward it onto his supervisor.
He suggests that this company is hoping to make money because alot of people who are not very good with computers always try www.gmail.co.za if they want to get to emails and such...
Now that I sit and think about it, he has a point, because when I worked at the internet cafe, alot of people would goto www.hotmail.co.za to get to hotmail and at the time, there was no hotmail.co.za and then I'd have to guide them to www.hotmail.com
Last edited: