Gmail, Google's free email service, is almost 20 years old having launched as an invite-only public beta on April 1, 2004. In its early days, that invite-only scarcity and the fact that it seemed like Google was building a better mousetrap made Gmail accounts highly desirable in ways that other free email services weren't. Rightly or wrongly, there's long been a perception of AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail addresses somehow being lesser in a way that Gmail just isn't.
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Gmail officially exited beta status after over five years of being used by the general public, and since then, it's become ubiquitous. With 15GB of storage included, a clean interface, and all sorts of features that allow you to filter your Gmail inbox, it's an excellent option for anyone willing to be immersed in Google's ecosystem. The features don't come close to ending there, though: For example, for the privacy-conscious, Gmail lets you send password-protected emails with the password being text messaged to the recipient's mobile phone number. So if, for some reason, you haven't already gotten on board, let's go over how you can set up your own Gmail account and join over one billion current active users.
