New Labs Feature for Gmail: Back to Beta

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 08 Jul 2009

The big news this week is that Google, after a staggering 5 years (that’s 35 dog years), has finally peeled the Beta tag from its email client, Gmail. It’s not like we were not expecting this to happen, after all, Google representatives did say this issue would be addressed “very soon” at the Google I/O 2009 event. But the simple truth of the mater is that for some Gmail users out there seeing the little Beta text came as a granted, it was a permanent companion that some of them feel bad about giving up.

“We realize that after five years, this leaves some of you wrestling with some tough questions. How will you ever get used to using Gmail without that familiar grey "BETA" text greeting you when you log in everyday? What example will you cite the next time you make an internet joke about perpetual betas? Don't despair... for those of you long-time Gmail-ers who might feel some separation anxiety, we've got a solution,” explained Gmail Product director, Keith Coleman.

The solution Coleman mentioned above is a new offering from Gmail Labs called “Back to Beta” that performs one simple task: it puts the Beta back in the Gmail logo.

In order to enable the “Back to Beta” Labs feature, follow these simple steps:

Step 1 – Go to Gmail and login to your account. If you do not have one, perhaps this would be the best time to sign up (it’s free and you get tons of features to play with). If you already have a Google account and you are logged in, access Labs by simply clicking here (this will skip Step 2 of the tutorial).
Step 2 – In the top right corner of the screen, right next to your user name you should be able to see “Settings”; click it. Now locate “Labs” and click it as well.
Step 3 – Locate “Back to Beta” and select “Enable”. Click “Save Changes” (at the bottom of the screen) and you’re done.

In related news, you should know that the Mountain View search engine giant took the Beta tag off all Google Apps, not just Gmail (details here).


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