I still feel this strange “obligation” to delete large emails and attachments. I think I have been so used to having to do it with my Hotmail account and at work (100mb limit), that it is habit…

I wonder just how much Google is actually allocating ‘up front’ to each account.

Good question… I wonder if they compress mail at all? Text compresses heaps. There’s sure to be people using Gmail has an online hard drive as well, there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s under 10 megs. Maybe not so much now due to the slow-release invitation scheme, but once the floodgates open, woooo…

I’ve always had a POP account as a primary address so I’ve never been in the habit of deleting large (or any non-spam) emails. There’s a kind of difference in fundamental assumptions when you talk to someone who’s only ever had a Hotmail address, e.g. my SO, about whether email is a permanent historical record or a temporary buffer of information. Example (this is fictional but close enough):

SO: Do you remember such-and-such’s phone number?

Me: No, but I think they emailed it to me last year, want me to check?

[pause]

SO: How will you do that?

[pause]

Me: Huh?

SO: How will you get back an email from last year?

[pause]

Me: Wha?

SO: Well you would have deleted it right?

[realisation dawns]

Me: I don’t use Hotmail. I keep all my email offline.

SO: Ohhhh.

This has happened more than once with more than one person.

Very true, I was trying to find a particular mail from two years ago and ended up amusingly browsing through a long thread of emails sent the day a group uni assignment was due. One document was being blasted back and forth and it got pretty confusing as we implemented a sort of “invisible hot potato” version control system.

“Ok who’s got the latest document?”

“This one’s the latest one.”

“Could you stick this into the document?”

“Yeah and stick this new bit I wrote in as well.”

“This is too confusing… you do it.”

“Ok. I’ll send it back to you.”

“Guys, I’ve finished proofreading X’s section and put the changes into the master document.”

“No don’t do that. You’ll confuse everyone.”

“Ok now who’s got the latest document?”

i work on a version system of saving the documents with the version number u’ve edited it plus ur initials. so u know at least how many changes were made by a particular person and the latest one … if not a master one.. cos ppl are usually working on changing the same latest version document at the same time.

no one ever followed it however.