WebProNews

Users of Google Apps, say "thank you" to users of Gmail.  Now that they've acted as something similar to guinea pigs, you'll be receiving a nice, if not overly significant, upgrade.

 Google Apps Get Upgrade

Remember the "beta" tag hanging around Gmail's neck?  Well, this could be one of the reasons it's there.  On the Official Gmail Blog, Jeremy Milo wrote, "Sometimes . . . we like to listen and learn from users before launching updates to businesses, schools and organizations that use Google Apps.  Gmail's revamped codebase was one such case . . ."

Milo later listed a handful of the relevant features.  A faster interface, group chat from the browser, a streamlined contact manager, colored message labels, improved keyboard shortcuts, and bookmarkable messages and searches all got named.

Celebrations don't seem to be breaking out across the Web, but these features should be welcome; even if (aside from the "faster interface" bit) the improvements are things most people won't use, larger organizations are more likely to delve into them.

No guinea pigs, either real or metaphorical, were hurt during the testing stage, by the way - the upgrade seemed stable at all times.