A few months back Robert Scoble was told by Google program manager Chris Uhlik that the reason the Gmail wasn’t opened to the general public yet was because they were worried they wouldn’t have enough server space. Scoble went as far as to write that in the comments here when I suggested the strong possibility that this rationing of Gmail invites was really just a marketing move:

“They can’t just turn everyone on all at once. It’d ruin the experience for who is already on the servers.” - Robert Scoble - 06 November ‘04 - 03:35

I still feel that way, and even more so today. Why? Look at what’s happened the last few months. Actions speak louder than words and there’s plenty of activity that disproves the notion that Google is short on server space.

Want a Gmail invite? No? I totally understand, you probably already have one or have been offered one many, many, many times by now. We’ve tried to give them away on our web radio show and there’s very, very few takers. If someone reading this actually does want one, then just use the comments section as my wife, myself and a couple people who work with us have plenty to give away and we’d be happy to hook you up.

Gmail used to sparingly give out three at a time, then they went to six at a time, and now they’ve ramped it up to 50 at a time. Since we have quite a few to give away they are just wasting digital space and we’ll give them away to anyone who asks in this thread that doesn’t already have a gmail invite (yes, a few folks that have asked have actually signed their emails with Gmail addresses — doh!). 

Frankly, I’m totally mystified that Google hasn’t opened this up to the general public yet. Yeah, yeah, I know they can claim they don’t have enough servers and it’s difficult to prove that statement false. But it’s my opinion that this is BS because they keep adding/acquiring services like Keyhole which we all know are taking up tons of server space (satellite imagery for the entire US) and they just volunteered to do some of the hosting for the Wiki project. Yup — insert heavy sarcasm — they seem to be acting like they are on a real server crunch over there.

Look, at this point, I don’t really care if this was a marketing move or not, Google. What I do care about is that you stop making it the rest of the web’s job (bloggers) to be your Gmail distribution channel (and Orkut, which has even less demand) when the demand is so low that server space isn’t a legitimate concern anymore. At one point, that premise made some sense, but it doesn’t now and in fact, it makes you look like a bunch of waffling politicians (and who believes politicians!).

I have a sinking feeling (and really I hope I’m wrong) that the majority of the people who are left actually wanting Gmail invites are scammers and spammers and by posts like this and other bloggers doing something similar we are just aiding and abedding the wrong types of netizens at this point. Sorry to be all cynical to start out the morning, but there has been a very phony feel to the recent requests this blog has received for Gmail invites, but since Google won’t open up Gmail to the general public, these people have to resort to begging on blogs.  I guess the response should be just to ignore the invites there, but I don’t want to be responsible for leaving somebody out who legitimately wants to sample/use the service. Shame on you Google, for continuing to assign this responsibility to your users.

So c’mon Google, just open up Gmail already! I know you have a serious infatuation with keeping things beta (Google News) but enough of the PR spin! PR spin is evil. Remember your motto, please. The no server space dog just isn’t hunting any more.

• Truth behind Gmail invitation distribution revealed
• Wallop of invite only offers
• A couple Gmail invites left - Make Me Laugh Contest
• Thanks Google for introducing and popularizing invite-only elitism
• Gmail spam filter sucks too, 3 GB of spam in less than 6 months
• Beta invite signees beware