Stop Buying Servers » Gmail

It’s now. Do you know if your Google Apps are working?

David Schrag — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:04:45 +0000

The first thing I did today when my Google Mail stopped responding was to get on Twitter and ask if Google Apps was (were?) down. Better idea: Check the Google Apps status report. It includes both a current report and a history for the past several days. As of 4:02 pm EDT on 9/1/09 …

Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next 1.2 hours. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.

Users can access their email via IMAP or POP. You can find instructions for how to do this here.

If setting up an IMAP account, don’t forget the special settings for the incoming and outgoing servers!

New label management procedure in Gmail

David Schrag — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:02:26 +0000

I just noticed there’s no longer a button to click to rename a label in Gmail. Fortunately I found out how to do it by searching Gmail help.

Go to the Settings >> Labels page. Click on a label and it turns into an edit field.

Gmail and secure web content

David Schrag — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:44:48 +0000

Yesterday I asked why I wasn’t seeing images embedded in Gmail messages even though I told Gmail to display them. Today I answered my own question:

I was answering “yes,” I want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely. The text was being delivered securely but the images were not, so I didn’t see the images.

If you’ve answered yes and then changed your mind, you’ll have to close and re-open your browser before re-opening the message.

What’s wrong with this non-picture?

David Schrag — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:35:08 +0000

I’m having trouble lately with opt-in e-mail marketing messages displaying correctly in Google Apps Gmail. Look at this:

When I opened this same message in Outlook, at first I got the notification that pictures were not being downloaded. But when I told Outlook to download and display the pictures, it readily complied. Not so for the Gmail web interface. How come?

Resources for Google Apps users with BlackBerries

David Schrag — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:39:50 +0000

Subscribers to Google Apps Premium Edition have access to some pretty good tools for synchronization with BlackBerries. But it’s harder than it should be to find instructions for setting this up. So I’m taking this opportunity to provide some direct links to the Google help documents.

BlackBerry users can also download the Google Mobile App by visiting http://m.google.com from the BlackBerry itself.

Outlook notification when new Gmail arrives

David Schrag — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:32:04 +0000

One problem – if you consider it that – with Gmail and other IMAP accounts is that Outlook doesn’t by default pop up that little envelope at the bottom of your screen when a new message arrives.

Lytebyte shows you how to configure an Outlook rule to compensate. The rule is designed for Outlook 2007. I imagine, but have not proven yet, that this would also work for Outlook 2003.

Don’t get scared by the headlines

David Schrag — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:17:05 +0000

“Gmail accounts hacked via unpatched hole!” That’s the headline on this article from Windows Secrets, which is generally a very good source of information. Based on the headline alone, you might think that using Gmail is inherently insecure. But a closer reading of the article reveals that Gmail accounts can only be hacked in this manner if they are protected weak passwords, which is akin to leaving your keys in the lock.

ALL computer systems are vulnerable to hacking if they have inadequate security measures in place. This is by no means limited to cloud computing applications. You should use strong passwords all the time, whether in the cloud or not.

Hiawatha Bray on computing while in the clouds

David Schrag — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:40:47 +0000

Boston Globe technology reporter Hiawatha Bray writes about how to work with cloud-based documents when you have no connection to the internet. He reviews three products/services: Google Gears, Apple MobileMe, and Microsoft Live Mesh.

I’ll post my own thoughts on these services after I have a chance to play with them.

E-mail in the cloud

David Schrag — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:37:53 +0000

Obviously, every small business needs e-mail. And every e-mail account needs a server to make the connection between one mailbox and another. One option is to have your own mail server, and the other is to have your mailboxes on someone else’s server.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, only large companies could afford to purchase and maintain their own e-mail servers. Smaller companies typically got by with POP accounts hosted by their Internet Service Providers or web site hosts, or sometimes simply had employees use their own personal accounts at AOL or other large e-mail providers. These setups were problematic, as they did not offer the flexibility, control, or advanced functionality associated with full server control.

With the introduction of Microsoft’s Small Business Server (which includes the Exchange mail server) and greater access to high-speed Internet connections with static IP addresses, small businesses got the opportunity to host their own mail servers. They were able to enjoy a number of advantages, including central storage and backup of e-mail files, flexible and larger user mailboxes, tighter integration with network accounts, and relief from often restrictive policies imposed by Internet service providers and other mail hosts.

However, hosting one’s own mail server comes with several costs. Not only must one pay for the hardware and software involved, but one also has to assume the responsibility for keeping one’s mailboxes spam-free, virus-free, and backed up. One also assumes the risks associated with hosting a server on a small budget. Small businesses generally do not have the kind of redundancy and disaster recovery options that large mail hosts have, and they are likely to experience outages and delivery problems. Furthermore, managing a mail server requires special expertise. Although it is not that difficult to learn basic tasks such as adding and deleting users, troubleshooting problems with mail servers is generally not a do-it-yourself task.

Cloud-based e-mail services have been around for some time, most famously in the form of AOL, Hotmail, and Gmail. Only recently, though, have services emerged to meet the demands of small businesses as opposed to home users. Today it is possible to find cloud-based e-mail services that offer the functionality that small businesses demand, including:

Domain branding (e.g. username@stopbuyingservers.com instead of stopbuyingservers@aol.com, hotmail.com, gmail.com, etc.)
Reasonably-sized mailboxes (measured in GB instead of 10’s or 100’s of MB)
Integrated spam and virus filtering
Web access from anywhere including access to old mail, sent mail, contacts, and other items other than new mail.
Centralized, do-it-yourself administration of user accounts.

In upcoming posts we will look at the cloud-based e-mail services that are available today.