After five years, Gmail exits beta

Earlier on today we took a potato out of the microwave. It wasn't done, so back in it went. A few minutes later, it was ready. That's basically the story of Google's email service. Only instead of a potato, it was Gmail. And instead of a microwave, it was beta testing. And, actually, instead of 10 minutes, it was five sodding years.

But the day has finally come: Google's Gmail service has finally been taken out of beta, and so have other Google Apps products including Docs and Talk.

It seems the catalyst for this venture into the world of being a full product was the launch of Google Apps Sync, which we covered last month. With it, users of Microsoft Outlook can continue to use the familiar Outlook program, but all the data sent and received travelled via Google Apps.

Physical changes to note are minimal. You'll notice the 'beta' tag underneath the icons on each service have vanished (though they can be re-added under the Labs settings if you're the nostalgic type), but other than that it's business as usual.

Next, let's get releasing Duke Nukem Fore... oh no, wait, of course. Dang.