Yahoo! launches Yahoo! Mail Beta - This Post - External Link

Yahoo's next generation web-based mail service, Yahoo Mail Beta, entered public beta today. The service is now open to the general public.

On first look, Yahoo is going after Google's Gmail with their new mail app. Yahoo's beta interface is filled Ajaxy goodness, and it offers much of the same auto-refresh responsiveness as GMail. Additionally, the beta features some tight integration with Yahoo's other web services. For example, users can post to their Yahoo blog in just a couple of clicks, and Yahoo Mail Beta can talk to Yahoo's web-based calendar app, just as GMail is able to exchange data with Google Calendar.

Gmail still kills the Yahoo Mail beta on storage. GMail offers 2.5GB per user, Yahoo offers 1GB. Also, GMail lets you view MS Office attachments (Excel and Word documents) as HTML, which is a huge time-saver.

Features that Yahoo Mail has that GMail doesn't have: Drag-and-drop emails between folders. Extensive use of tabs, including the ability to keep multiple emails open at once in tabs. Also, the Yahoo Mail beta features two panes inside the web interface, one for mail and one for RSS feeds. The RSS reader integration is a big step towards the increasing use of RSS in the "real world" -- that is, among users who don't yet know what RSS is or why it will change the way they gather information on the web.

Users with an existing Yahoo Mail account can transfer all of their emails and contacts over to the beta service instantly. They can also switch back to the old mail service at any time. Richard MacManus has posted an overview of the service -- and an interview with Yahoo Mail Beta's product manager Ethan Diamond -- on The Read/Write Web.