Yes, I agree mainly because you need a lot of freedom to follow the original Google path (gmail? adwords? google reader? pay per click?) and Google was a gamechanger.

I imagine the new CEO saying that you need to put banners, pay per impressions, don't try to reinvent the wheel with gmail, etc.

Excite already had a web mail product too.

It's what I had before gmail.

But not like gmail. Remember that gmail was a gamechanger too: AJAX + Threaded Inbox including your sent e-mails.

No one I knew cared about the ajax or the threaded inbox (sometimes considered anti-features). It was all about the gigabyte free space, with labels over folders a distant second.

Yes, you are right about the storage (now I can recall the feeling). But the main point remains valid: Google was a gamechanger.