Agreed, and the 'gmail did this' argument fails. If gmail was only substantially useful with other gmail users, a slow launch would not have made any kind of se

Agreed, and the 'gmail did this' argument fails. If gmail was only substantially useful with other gmail users, a slow launch would not have made any kind of sense. About the only justification for a slow launch is to avoid buggering up the scaling or having the entire world discover some massive UX flaw almost immediately - so it's tough for them. I hope they hit a good balance.