You can send archives, as long as they're Zip files. You can't send executables, even in Zip files, and this is my biggest annoyance with GMail, especially since they don't document what they consider executable. (I had an archive of HTML and PNG files bounced, apparently because it was theoretically possible to open the archive, click on an HTML file, and run it in a browser.)abushcrafter wrote:The one thing I hate about GMail is your forbidden to send archives and .exe files . but its better then Not So Hot Mail and BooHoo (yahoo) Mail, they and ebay are very evil read here:
BooHoo: http://www.netdisaster.com/desktop/faq/ ... ident.html
EvilBay: http://www.netdisaster.com/desktop/faq/phishing.html
Lack of support for archive formats other than Zip may bite them abroad, where things like RAR files are more common. (Public domain C source to open and extract RAR files was posted by RAR's author back in the MS-DOS days, and I understand he offered to help GMail integrate RAR support in GMail but was turned down.)
I maintain a Yahoo mail account precisely for the cases where I need to send or receive executables. I can send them via GMail, but it's a PITA for me and the recipient, as it requires tedious renaming of the contents.
For normal mail, GMail is the best I've seen. I have 7.5GB of storage and counting, and don't worry about my Inbox filling up and mail bouncing if I can't check is for a couple of days (which happened on my ISP POP account). The mail is on GMail's servers, not my system, and checkable from wherever I have an internet connection.
While I can have GMail deliver mail by POP and download and read it in an email client, I prefer the web interface. GMail's spam filters are the best I've seen. (I know folks who get mail via POP who forward everything through GMail to filter it, first.)
I can have GMail check my other accounts, and have everything show up in the GMail Inbox. I can optionally label mail from other accounts to identify it (I don't) and set things up so replies I make appear to come from the account the mail was sent to (I do.)
GMail provides a layer of security because potentially harmful attachments never reach my machine. They're on GMail's servers, and don't reach my machines unless I explicitly download them (and I know what it is and who it's from before I do so.)
And I'm on an assortment of mailing lists (and moderate a couple), and GMail's "Conversation Mode" is just made for list traffic.
Inability to send executables and lack of support for archives other than Zip are my only real GMail complaints.
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Dennis