[DCF]

>> Third, it's a file storage. This is the most overlooked part, unfortunately.

When gmail first launched I remember it having such relatively high storage space that my friends and I used it extensively as a music sharing/storage system. An mp3 was just small enough to make it a comfortable email attachment and the storage space was great in an age without infinite cloud hosts.

Huge amounts of gmail's early utility to me was simply the file storage. Lots of people would give you a free email address. Google made a big deal out of the massive space they offered.

[dkurth]

A while back, Gmail began blocking .js file attachments, but I didn't realize until today that this means my old JavaScript file attachments would be retroactively blocked. I tracked down an email from two years ago with a JavaScript file attached that I needed, but I couldn't download it!

I was eventually able to get it by doing "Show Original" in Gmail and copy/pasting the base64-encoded attachment data and decoding it. But it made me nervous about using Gmail as a way to hang on to files, since things I attach now might not be available later.

[ecshafer]

I had this same issue. Google also blocked .jar and .zip if I remember. I had lost some old school projects that I tried to recover, which we're turned in via email. I couldn't download the attachments for this, despite the fact I sent them in the first place! Much less, why couldn't I allow someone to send me a .js file I wanted it? It's a weird restriction to not even be given a choice.

[phireal]

Someone even went so far as to build a FUSE filesystem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GmailFS