Comments on: Working Around Gmail’s Quota http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/ New Rules for a New IT World Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:40:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Ismael Ghalimi http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-69349 Ismael Ghalimi Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:41:39 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-69349 Miles, I think you're right, and for this reason recently upgraded my account. Best regards -Ismael Miles,

I think you’re right, and for this reason recently upgraded my account.

Best regards
 -Ismael

]]> By: Miles http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-69348 Miles Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:38:55 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-69348 "First, I would expect Google to increase quotas slightly faster than our needs grow, just because they can" I was thinking that your needs are unique since you are using Gmail as a storage medium, and therefore your needs are not representative of the general Gmail population base. Perhaps Google will increase your particular storage quota as you near your current allowance by using underutilized storage from other users. The comparison I make is a Family Plan for cellphones -- a family may get a bank of 2,000 minutes per month that is shared across multiple family members. 3 of the 4 may use a combined 500 minutes, while family member number 1 uses 1,500 minutes. I agree that storage is relatively cheap (and getting cheaper) these days, but one can't help but consider that Google will hold firm on it's current quotas to encourage its members to upgrade (pay) to an account that offers more storage. Just because they can increase storage doesn't mean they will. “First, I would expect Google to increase quotas slightly faster than our needs grow, just because they can”

I was thinking that your needs are unique since you are using Gmail as a storage medium, and therefore your needs are not representative of the general Gmail population base. Perhaps Google will increase your particular storage quota as you near your current allowance by using underutilized storage from other users.

The comparison I make is a Family Plan for cellphones — a family may get a bank of 2,000 minutes per month that is shared across multiple family members. 3 of the 4 may use a combined 500 minutes, while family member number 1 uses 1,500 minutes.

I agree that storage is relatively cheap (and getting cheaper) these days, but one can’t help but consider that Google will hold firm on it’s current quotas to encourage its members to upgrade (pay) to an account that offers more storage. Just because they can increase storage doesn’t mean they will.

]]> By: IT|Redux - Here Comes the Fun http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-50086 IT|Redux - Here Comes the Fun Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:06:49 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-50086 [...] Now, what does this mean for Office 2.0 workers? To start, you get more storage capacity. I described ways to work around Gmail’s quota in a past article, but quite frankly, the solutions I came up with are not entirely satisfying. As of today, I reached 89% of my 2820 MB allowance on my free Gmail account, and this is getting quite uncomfortable. If my usage patterns remain the same (5.53 MB of daily emails), a 10 GB account should be enough for about 5 years. And two factors should make it enough for virtually anyone: First, I would expect Google to increase quotas slightly faster than our needs grow, just because they can. Second, Office 2.0 promotes a collaboration model whereby documents are shared rather than sent as email attachments, thereby reducing the volume of emails you need to store. In other words, we are reaching a land of plenty, where storage becomes a commodity that we do not have to worry about anymore. I don’t know about you, but I kinda like that. [...] […] Now, what does this mean for Office 2.0 workers? To start, you get more storage capacity. I described ways to work around Gmail’s quota in a past article, but quite frankly, the solutions I came up with are not entirely satisfying. As of today, I reached 89% of my 2820 MB allowance on my free Gmail account, and this is getting quite uncomfortable. If my usage patterns remain the same (5.53 MB of daily emails), a 10 GB account should be enough for about 5 years. And two factors should make it enough for virtually anyone: First, I would expect Google to increase quotas slightly faster than our needs grow, just because they can. Second, Office 2.0 promotes a collaboration model whereby documents are shared rather than sent as email attachments, thereby reducing the volume of emails you need to store. In other words, we are reaching a land of plenty, where storage becomes a commodity that we do not have to worry about anymore. I don’t know about you, but I kinda like that. […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-2976 IT|Redux Fri, 02 Jun 2006 21:22:50 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-2976 [...] Until recently, the last commodity that was not available for free was storage. Quotas for email accounts have been increasing steadily, nevertheless they remain too limited, as was discussed in this past article. I am now using 42% of my quota on Gmail, and will soon have to move my older emails to a backup account used for archival purposes. [...] […] Until recently, the last commodity that was not available for free was storage. Quotas for email accounts have been increasing steadily, nevertheless they remain too limited, as was discussed in this past article. I am now using 42% of my quota on Gmail, and will soon have to move my older emails to a backup account used for archival purposes. […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-354 IT|Redux Sun, 12 Feb 2006 16:39:01 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-354 [...] Storage quotas are too lowToday, you can find a quarter-terabyte hard drive for $75. That’s 30 cents a gigabyte. With that in mind, the 2.866 GB quota I have with Gmail today seems kinda ridiculous. That’s less than 86 cents! There are ways to work around it, but I would rather not have to worry about it and pay whatever subscription that would give me a terabyte of secure storage online. Rumors have been circulating that Apple might soon offer terabyte .Mac accounts, and Google is the kind of company that thrives on bold challenges like that, so I remain confident that this bug might be fixed before the end of the year. [...] […] Storage quotas are too lowToday, you can find a quarter-terabyte hard drive for $75. That’s 30 cents a gigabyte. With that in mind, the 2.866 GB quota I have with Gmail today seems kinda ridiculous. That’s less than 86 cents! There are ways to work around it, but I would rather not have to worry about it and pay whatever subscription that would give me a terabyte of secure storage online. Rumors have been circulating that Apple might soon offer terabyte .Mac accounts, and Google is the kind of company that thrives on bold challenges like that, so I remain confident that this bug might be fixed before the end of the year. […]

]]> By: Christopher Rose http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-290 Christopher Rose Tue, 07 Feb 2006 18:11:17 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-290 Why waste time worrying about a problem that doesn't exist? For all you know, Google will just suddenly increase the limits on gmail accounts. Furthermore, effective use of the filters could easily resolve your storage and back up issues. The real trouble with gmail is that you can't be logged into more than one account at once. Why waste time worrying about a problem that doesn’t exist? For all you know, Google will just suddenly increase the limits on gmail accounts. Furthermore, effective use of the filters could easily resolve your storage and back up issues. The real trouble with gmail is that you can’t be logged into more than one account at once.

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-220 IT|Redux Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:02:17 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-220 [...] Emails stored in GmailAs described in this previous article, all incoming emails are automatically forwarded to a backup Yahoo! Mail account. To do this, you can either use Gmail’s forwarding option or set a custom filter, while creating new accounts on Yahoo! Mail as the older ones get full. [...] […] Emails stored in GmailAs described in this previous article, all incoming emails are automatically forwarded to a backup Yahoo! Mail account. To do this, you can either use Gmail’s forwarding option or set a custom filter, while creating new accounts on Yahoo! Mail as the older ones get full. […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-183 IT|Redux Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:10:57 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-183 [...] Data import/export is mandatoryMigrating from one service to an other is possible only if all data can be exported from the first and imported into the second. This is why I never use any service where I cannot get data in and out easily. One problem I faced with this rule was related to Gmail and the fact that one cannot export email archives out of it, but I found a way to work around this limitation by automatically forwarding all incoming emails to a separate email account managed by Yahoo! Mail, as described in this article. Similarly, the .csv export feature offered by LinkedIn does not include unique user IDs, therefore manual synchronization with contacts stored into Salesforce.com is required, and that’s a total waste of time. Hopefully, the good LinkedIn folks will get the hint and add this little field into their .csv export. Patience is the mother of all virtues! [...] […] Data import/export is mandatoryMigrating from one service to an other is possible only if all data can be exported from the first and imported into the second. This is why I never use any service where I cannot get data in and out easily. One problem I faced with this rule was related to Gmail and the fact that one cannot export email archives out of it, but I found a way to work around this limitation by automatically forwarding all incoming emails to a separate email account managed by Yahoo! Mail, as described in this article. Similarly, the .csv export feature offered by LinkedIn does not include unique user IDs, therefore manual synchronization with contacts stored into Salesforce.com is required, and that’s a total waste of time. Hopefully, the good LinkedIn folks will get the hint and add this little field into their .csv export. Patience is the mother of all virtues! […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-89 IT|Redux Tue, 17 Jan 2006 06:51:50 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-89 [...] No need to backup your data yourself. When all your data is managed by reliable third-parties such as Google or Salesforce.com, automatic backup is taken care of. And if you want to remove the dependency on a single service provider, you can always use a combination of them, as described on this post. [...] […] No need to backup your data yourself. When all your data is managed by reliable third-parties such as Google or Salesforce.com, automatic backup is taken care of. And if you want to remove the dependency on a single service provider, you can always use a combination of them, as described on this post. […]

]]> By: Ismael Ghalimi http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-70 Ismael Ghalimi Fri, 13 Jan 2006 22:25:45 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-70 Randy, Based on my own experience, creating a new email account on Yahoo! Mail and setting up the forward on Gmail takes no more than five minutes. If you contrast that with the productivity increase you get by being able to access your email from any computer, the trade-off clearly works in favor of the online approach. Not to mention the fact that a hard drive crash or a lost laptop could cost you days of lost productivity. Randy,

Based on my own experience, creating a new email account on Yahoo! Mail and setting up the forward on Gmail takes no more than five minutes. If you contrast that with the productivity increase you get by being able to access your email from any computer, the trade-off clearly works in favor of the online approach. Not to mention the fact that a hard drive crash or a lost laptop could cost you days of lost productivity.

]]> By: Randy Tayler http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-63 Randy Tayler Fri, 13 Jan 2006 16:22:44 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-63 This sounds like a viable workaround, but doesn't it contradict the purpose of Office 2.0 -- to "increase my personal productivity"? It surely can't be as productive to be creating new email accounts when your own hard drive would facilitate storage in one place. I guess there's value in showing that the no-local-software approach can work, but until the approach can truly increase productivity, I don't really see the point. This sounds like a viable workaround, but doesn’t it contradict the purpose of Office 2.0 — to “increase my personal productivity”? It surely can’t be as productive to be creating new email accounts when your own hard drive would facilitate storage in one place.

I guess there’s value in showing that the no-local-software approach can work, but until the approach can truly increase productivity, I don’t really see the point.

]]> By: David http://itredux.com/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-6 David Fri, 06 Jan 2006 18:57:11 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/04/working-around-gmails-quota/#comment-6 The idea of using other email accounts is interesting but the idea of keeping all incoming mails makes me tick... It makes me think about the theories of getting things done and other organizational practice that say: do not keep things that you are not sure you will need in the future. Maybe you have a different vision on that but I decided to keep only the emails with info that I think I will really need. I am not going to go over the inbox strategy of getting things done as I know you know it through ;) When I get an email and I am at the last step of the pipeline, If there is nothing important in the email, or if I am not sure I will need the info or if I believe I could get it again, I just delete the email. I have been using Gmail for more than a year and I am using less than 10% of my account right now. It was up to 30% before I started applying the waste basket strategy. Using this strategy, I believe you could extend the life of your quota for years to come... Also, I am not sure of how you got the quota increase value from... On my account, it is more like 0.3456 MB a day (0.000004 MB a second)... At that rate, you have around 429 days without increasing your daily quota. With the 11MB a day quota, we are looking at 208 days As for the spam, it is deleted automatically after 30 days so you are not incurring more than 30 days worth of it at any time... I tried for a while to delete it as it was coming in but I found out it was not worth the time after all since there is no easy way to delete all of it (you have to go through it one page at a time). The idea of using other email accounts is interesting but the idea of keeping all incoming mails makes me tick… It makes me think about the theories of getting things done and other organizational practice that say: do not keep things that you are not sure you will need in the future. Maybe you have a different vision on that but I decided to keep only the emails with info that I think I will really need.

I am not going to go over the inbox strategy of getting things done as I know you know it through ;) When I get an email and I am at the last step of the pipeline, If there is nothing important in the email, or if I am not sure I will need the info or if I believe I could get it again, I just delete the email.

I have been using Gmail for more than a year and I am using less than 10% of my account right now. It was up to 30% before I started applying the waste basket strategy. Using this strategy, I believe you could extend the life of your quota for years to come…

Also, I am not sure of how you got the quota increase value from… On my account, it is more like 0.3456 MB a day (0.000004 MB a second)… At that rate, you have around 429 days without increasing your daily quota. With the 11MB a day quota, we are looking at 208 days

As for the spam, it is deleted automatically after 30 days so you are not incurring more than 30 days worth of it at any time… I tried for a while to delete it as it was coming in but I found out it was not worth the time after all since there is no easy way to delete all of it (you have to go through it one page at a time).

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