Jai Google

GMail is true, guys. Believe it. Yahoo, Hotmail & co are finished. The "Happy birthday, April!" personal mesage on the site, which had given rise to doubts about the authenticity of the 1 gig space offer, is now gone. Plus, there's official confirmation.

Ah Capitalism, thy wonders never cease.

But more about Gmail. Did you know it's getting sued for breach of privacy? Gmail works by scanning incoming mail and looking for keywords to provide targeted advertising. Text only. You might say it's obvious why people are throwing their hands up about it, but I have a few things to say:

1. It's right there in the privacy policy and user agreement. If you're not OK with it, go ahead, pass up the 1 gig free space.

2. Google doesn't ask for personal info - only your first and last name are required to get your hands on the loot. Yahoo, on the other hand, requires: First Name, Last Name, Zip code, Gender, Industry, Job Title, Specialization, Birth Date, and a check box for special offers from selected Yahoo partners that is checked by default. Yahoo states that they ask for this information to provide 3rd parties for targeted advertising. How come it's Google that's getting all the bad press?

3. I said it before, and I'll say it again: Hotmail, Yahoo et al are finished. That's probably what this whole fuss is about.