Things I want from free Gmail which it doesn't have
- Message importance (High, Normal, Low). Putting "IMPORTANT" in the subject just makes it look spammy.
- Remote directory server integration (LDAP, etc).
- IMAP instead of POP3. (edit: I mean ability for gmail to fetch mail from another account with IMAP; I realize IMAP client support is there)
- Delivery notification support ... not that I use it much and not that clients have to honor it, but it's useful in the right situation.
I realize IMAP is in (paid) Google Apps, and that it even includes MAPI client support, but Google could produce a more limited, ad-supported form of IMAP as to not kill their enterprise product. I suspect the main reason people go to Enterprise is not to integrate with Exchange, but to replace Exchange. They should realize the long-term opportunity of attracting current Exchange users on the free product. The existing free feature set is good but falls a little short.
My company is under contract with an Exchange hosting provider which prevents us from switching right now, if we wanted to. Google should be adding more value to the free product to tide companies over until they are in a position to make a change.
