Gmail invitations

[Jenisis]

I have just recieved in my inbox 6 shiney new invitaitons for gmail beta accounts. its a pretty nifty free email, powered by google with 1 gb of storage space. If anyone is interested who doesn't already have one, I would hate to see them go to waste. I will send them out to the first 6 responders, you can either post and email addy here for me to send them or send it to me privately.

[Janmeryet]

A generous offer, Jenisis. I wouldn't mind one, though I don't email huge amounts, so only send me one if there aren't enough other people who are asking you - does that make any sense? Cheers!

[foundsoul]

it would be realy nice to have one cause hotmail only gives 2mb

[Keith]

What's all the fuss over Gmail about?

[claudio]

well send it to me
1 gb sounds great
specialy with the files i transfere during the exchange year

[Jenisis]

i just need e mail addys for you. They have to be sent via the gmail system and if I send you an email via the forum links, your addy isn't visible to me. please feel free to send my private message, or email me directly at jenisis@gmail.com.

Cheers!

[tobing]

I have an gmail invitation already, and I have also activated that account. Later when accessing from home I saw that they require ActiveX to be enabled to function, so I did not even start using it. There's no way to make me use ActiveX controls for such a simple matter as mails. Security is (imo) always more important. Had I known before that gmail relies on ActiveX I would not have activated that account...

[Janmeryet]

Tobing, could you enlighten me about ActiveX? What is it and is there something wrong with it?

[Pecunia]

Tobing, it's true that you need ActiveX if you use internet exploder. However, with Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape, it works with just Javascript turned on.

Downside of Gmail is that it doesn't work in many other browsers ... Opera and Konqueror come to mind.

[tobing]

Tobing, it's true that you need ActiveX if you use internet exploder. However, with Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape, it works with just Javascript turned on.

Downside of Gmail is that it doesn't work in many other browsers ... Opera and Konqueror come to mind.
Oh well, so I need to install some second browser to use gmail? If they can make it work without ActiveX, why not so for IE with ActiveX disabled? I don't understand that really. Well, maybe I'll give it another try.

Tobing, could you enlighten me about ActiveX? What is it and is there something wrong with it?
ActiveX is a techology by microsoft. It is used to embed little application (parts, called applets in other places) into other applications. So for example you can enhance your internet browser with an ActiveX control capable to play sound and/or video or things like that. Now the point is, IE can download controls from somewhere in the internet if some page requires to do so and then execute that control. Would the world be nice and all controls be trustwothy this would not be a problem. But the world is not as nice as this, so it is possible to fool IE or the user to have him download some 'bad' control that then executes malicious code on your PC. This is not possible this way using Java (at least it is VERY hard to achieve similar bad things), so that's the reason why IE is more vulnerable than other browsers. Particular dangerous is the combination of ActiveX controls and scripting enabled, but you won't get anywhere in the internet without scripting nowadays. So for security reasons it is wise to disable ActiveX controls.

Hope this gives you some enlightment about security, browsers and controls...

[kit]

OMG me me ME!

I have been lusting after one of those for a long while now. I have a pay account at malisnare.net, but I would just love to switch over to a shiny new GMail account.

Assuming you have one left for a poor starving beta tester. ;)

- Kit

[Janmeryet]

Thank you tobing, consider me enlightened. With the trouble I have already with all sorts of rubbish winding up on my computer, I'd better not make it any easier, so I withdraw my request, Jenisis, but thanks all the same :)

[Cironir]

Oh well, so I need to install some second browser to use gmail? If they can make it work without ActiveX, why not so for IE with ActiveX disabled?

Well, the way I'm seeing it is that if security is a concern, IE shouldn't be the browser of choice. I've been using Firefox for over a year now, and I'm very satisfied with it (especially with the Tabbrowser extension). The only times I start up IE is when I need to go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com or officeupdate.microsoft.com, or when I have to check if a site looks/works fine in IE, but that is only occasionally the case. This may not be the same for everyone though, since there are probably some more sites that require IE.

I also dropped Outlook (pro) for Thunderbird (also a Mozilla product) and now use it in a production environment. That was a bit of a risky step in retrospect, but I've not regretted it -- it's the email client I always wanted. :)

[tobing]

Cironir, no time now to go into details, but I'm running IEC made by the c't-Team at heise.de and Slimbrowser, which wraps IE for me, adding tabbed windows, integrated search and a powerful popup blocker, and some more nice features. Works well for me since long. Look on http:://www.staedtebauen.de, there I have written an article (in german, if there is great interest I could translate it) about securing your PC using free software.

[kit]

Tobing, I have been using Mozilla (and now Firefox and Thunderbird) for years. They are superior to IE in so many ways that I am surprised to hear someone who is clearly knowledgeable about browsers, yet chooses to use IE.

What are your reasons for sticking with IE? I'm just curious.

- Kit

PS - I admit I still have IE on my system, but that is because a) I am a web developer, and have to test on that, and b) Some sites require IE through hard-coded browser-checking.

[dreamsoftwilight]

That and you cant really get rid of IE, because thats the PC's shell browser...

IE is not the best browser out there, even if someone did make a program to make it "better" all youre doing is putting a bandage over an amputation...

Ive been using Firefox for weeks now, and I love it...so many nifty little extentions to install lol. And ive been using Thunderbird as well. Before that I was using Opera and Outlook...

Pecunia
Im greatly amused that someone besides me refers to IE as "Internet Exploder" Do you also call netscape "Nutscrape"? hehe

Edit: Oh, and I think there is an extention for Firefox that allows you to use Windows Updater in it...

[foundsoul]

i use avant browser and i love it IE sux to many popup problems on my gf comp never had a popup on my avant.