Although some believe it to be a test by Google, the terabyte worth of storage that was showing up on Gmail accounts is now gone. As reported earlier today, some Gmail members were seeing email storage amounts that equaled close to a terabyte of space. Gmail’s actual storage capabilities are 1 gigabyte. A terabyte is roughly equivalent to 1000 gigs.
Google Blogoscoped reports that a German news site contacted a Google spokesperson that said it was bug. The text from Heise.de was roughly translated to say that Gmail users were getting a reading from one of Google’s terabyte storage location.
However, some are not convinced that this was a bug. Some users believe that it was an unannounced test by Google. If that is the case, one wouldn’t expect any confirmation from the search engine, unless it is from an unnamed insider.
Currently, most of the major news sources are calling the larger capacity a bug. One train of thought is that this may have been in done by Google in response to the buzz Lycos generated yesterday when Lycos announced the release of its expanded email service that will allow paid members access to the 1 gigabyte storage for their email.
Perhaps Google wanted to steal the thunder back. And even if this wasn’t their intention, they succeeded.
Alan Townsend was courteous enough to allow us to use his screenshot of Gmail with the astronomical storage the account “had” this morning.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest search news.
