Google Apps Finally Leave Beta

We thought the day would never come but the perpetual BETA tag on the Google Apps Suite has finally been removed and Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Talk now have the distinction as ready for the public, or beta-less, software. It was always a running joke on how Gmail managed to stay in Beta for 5 years, especially considering in recent years there was hardly anything Beta about Gmail.

So why the switch after all those years? As Google explains it:

We've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase. So we've focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.

To put it simply, Google wants more businesses to use Google Apps to run their business. We're a big fan of Google Apps and really believe that companies should take a look at Google Apps, it's definitely much cheaper than the competition.

So, did the Beta tag for Google Apps ever bother you? Or do you guys miss it already? (You can re-enable the beta label for Gmail under Labs in Settings)

[official google blog]