SA companies launch rival GMail.co.za

How do you feel about this?

  • This is not right. They should have done something more original.

    Votes: 73 60.8%

  • I don't really care much.

    Votes: 12 10.0%

  • It is local and it is free. Good stuff!

    Votes: 21 17.5%

  • Not sure yet...

    Votes: 4 3.3%

  • They should be entitled to use the domain regardless of how I feel

    Votes: 10 8.3%
  • Total voters
    120
Gmail is known as googlemail in the UK and Germany because of legal issues.
 
Rofl.. wtf . BS PR.. and drop it.

drop it likes hard, drop likes hard ;)

and go b gangsta..
dont care.

google's gmail is the beez kneez . lol :)

p.s spam taht box

gsolutions said:
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.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
vodacom3g said:
Let's see what comes out when Google picks this up.
Click to expand...

I certainly would like this local one to come to a rapid and sticky end. It is such a tacky, slimy scheme to make money off another company's name and reputation, and is being partly driven by a company ( webmail ) that has developed a notoriety for being tacky and slimy, to judge from the hellopeter comments and those of associates. Sadly they seem to be on fairly good legal ground though.
 
The options of the poll should be extended by at least one:

- This is utterly ridiculous...

That's where I would vote! ;)
 
Well, one would have valid reason to argue that the "Google brand" extends to pretty much anything prefixed by a "g". Are we going to start shutting down every domain that starts with a "g" when Google decides to launch a service similar to it? GTalk? GMail? GBooks? GNews? Surely thats a bit absurd?

What about Microsoft's "LIVE" ? I can think of a couple of ZA domains which end in "live" which aren't necessarily owned by MS? "i" for Apple?
 
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why is everyone "protecting" google?

You will not find gmail in uk or germany as was said earlier because a company had a mail service called gmail LOOOOOOOONG before gmail was even around...

yeah gmail SA would be nice but google is soo slow, its not always worth the wait cause if i am capped to local i have no choice but to use a webmail interface...
 
Gsolutions, has Gmail.co.za ever been used before now as a free web email client?
 
Mmm, great! Another inferior service to make me appreciate @gmail.com backed by a multi-billion dollar company:-)
 
gsolutions said:
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.
Click to expand...

Gsolution, yes you have been using gmail.co.za as a paid email service longer than gmail.com, but you say your clientele wanted a free service? B.S you wanted to make a quick buck off someone else. No matter how crap webmail is at least they were original, they did not use some else's ideas & hardwork & quick note your service's sucked way before webmail got invovled. Maybe try opening a fisheries maybe you will be good at that, you can call it Gfisheries lol
 
Equinox said:
Well, one would have valid reason to argue that the "Google brand" extends to pretty much anything prefixed by a "g". Are we going to start shutting down every domain that starts with a "g" when Google decides to launch a service similar to it? GTalk? GMail? GBooks? GNews? Surely thats a bit absurd?

What about Microsoft's "LIVE" ? I can think of a couple of ZA domains which end in "live" which aren't necessarily owned by MS? "i" for Apple?
Click to expand...

No. I would have no issue with someone registering (and using) a domain such as gcars.co.za, but gmail is an existing brand.

So gmail.co.za was registered in 2003 - has it been used before?
 
Gmail.co.za would unintentionally tie the company with the international brand name Gmail by Google. This "free" association cannot be allowed and they should use another domain name.
 
Rightfully Gmail.co.za should be turned over to google and google should implement a way to access the mail servers using local only bandwidth. I mean we can access whitehouse.gov over local so why cant Google make a plan.

Maybe this will get their attention and they will see a need. Will be interesting to see what happens with this.
 
gsolutions said:
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.
Click to expand...

Im sorry but when I look at your site I get the impression you are trying to ride on the gmail brand. No need to be like a politician rather just admit what you are doing and then maybe people will respect you more...

Just looking at your site I see
NEWS
Gmail In South Africa

Webmail International, South Africa's leading Free EMAIL service with over 800 000 users and IT solutions company called Gardale Solutions,
read more
Click to expand...

That Gmail In South Africa bit says it all for me. This seems like an attempt to mislead the less informed internet users into believing you are representing gmail locally.

I've seen many non tech savvy middle aged golf playing corporate types who would fall for this kind of thing and even pay money. But for the rest of us tech savvy young generation we won't be fooled. Please just admit the motives for such a service. Im not trying to attack you but instead I am trying to point out something and that is that even though you own the domain name the way you are using it seems like it opens up the door for legal action.

Google has a lot of money and resources and even if you edit the pages to remove statements that make it seem like you are riding off the brand they can still dig into the cache for evidence...

BTW please ask webmail why they give 10gigs local storage but only a tiny mail box that fills up too quickly. There should be an option to divide your storage space between mailbox and storage.
 
They can try whatever they want. Fact of the matter is webmail sucks. Try sending attachments for instance. Now they want to fund the project with ads? The current webmail is already co cluttered with ads and those irritating flash anims that fly over your screen the whole is enough to make you forget what you wanted to say.

Be it as it may. Gmail.co.za may have been registered before gmail.com was launched but Gmail.com still has a much better, faster, stable platform and user interface than webmail has.

I appreciate their ambition being a South African and all but gmail.co.za will have to exceed gmail.com's standards.

I will admit though. It will be nice to have a webmail of high standard that one can access over local only internet.
 
metalcore,

I agree completely. Its very obvious. The name "Gmail South Africa" will mislead people into thinking it's Google's South African branch of Gmail.

I hope for their sake they know what they're doing. Google will sue the hell out of them for if they don't watch their steps.

Like Caesar's Pizza. Simple name. Different country. Big problems.
 
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