Google Removes ‘Beta’ Label from Gmail, Calendar, Other Services

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