Gmail - The First Step

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My name is Ron Hall.
I live at the Funny Farm.

So where to begin when one is talking about a subject like Google/Google products. Since I am working on my typing, I warn that I will tend to be brief. Also, that since I am 56 years old, one of my intents is to get older generations more comfortable with life on the internet (translates to just give it a try - most of us know about Woodstock and the '60s). When I was in college, Bill Gates was still at Harvard.

First let me say that this is not a tips/resource page type effort (the first rule is that there are no rules - will throw in a tidbit from time to time). It is also not about Google and its corporate culture - they have and Official Google Blog for that (minor tidbit). It is more personal. I hope to translate my journey and continuing adventure with the internet/computers through a description of my involvement and interface with the Google offerings I currently use (quite a few) and chronicle my exploration (at my age this is a comfortable adventure) of their offerings that I have not used yet. Remember this is also about me working on my keyboard skills.

Since it is all about me (hey it is my game/my ball) lets start with Gmail (and the Google Account). Gmail is free (why not set up a gmail address just to try it out - don't be the last person on your block without one - "inhale") and the Google Account is the key to partaking in Google's staggering array of free offerings. Google uses these two items (when you set up a Gmail account - you set up a Google Account) as the building blocks for a smooth integration of a number of new web services/technologies that you may have heard of but not tried yet.

I run it on my old PC laptop - on Firefox browser, and my new Mac (bit of bragging here) - on Safari. My daughter (acid test) and her friends all use gmail. I started simple, then experimented with the organization and "Search email" tools - both great - to help me with inventory and access to my old emails. Google brags that you will never have to delete an old email because of the amount of free storage you have. Excellent spam filters (does have automatic "Spam" Folder/Archive in case you want to review/dump). Google has also made it easy to import all your old contacts, or forward/link to your current email account - just check out the preference settings (like any application you are familiar/comfortable with - look around the page border, tasks bars, for dropdown menus that handle all kinds of things - don't be afraid). Tip - Learn to "right click" on things - your ticket to life in the fast lane.

If you are into style/personality, you can customize the look of your Gmail page, as well as your out going emails. If you are socialable, I leave Gmail on when I am working, because of the "chat" feature, (my daughter loves this) Google's version of instant messaging.

There are too many good points about Gmail for me to cover in my time frame with this blog (hey it is not my job, just an avid interest). While I was checking a few things out regarding Gmail for this post, I noticed that Google has a new item (new to me) associated with Gmail - Google Talk . Another blog down the road.

Base nut here is give it a try. If you have kids ask them about it (that goes for any thing I write about here - almost).

Make it a good day.