Google is removing the “beta” label from many of its key services, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk, and Google Video for Business. The move is seen as a way to attract large businesses to Google Apps, its suite of messaging and productivity applications.
For most users of Gmail and Google Calendar, today’s news is little more than a lifting of the “beta” label for these already-reliable Google services. But Google says removing the “beta” label is a big deal for the businesses that it hopes will switch to Web-based Google services–and away from software-based services offered by Microsoft and IBM.
It’s essentially just a symbolic move at this point, but you have to wonder if it will trickle down to other companies, many of which have become fond of using “Beta” (or even “Alpha”) tags on their products longer than you might expect, in emulation of Google.
However, if you’d like to keep the “Beta” tag on your Gmail, you can now enable a “Back to Beta” option in Google Labs. How cute.