Gmail is constantly changing, and user's feedback is a big part of that. Google Labs has been around for a while now, and many users take advantage of them on a daily basis. Depending on how popular a Lab becomes, Google decides what to do with it. Some Labs become standard Gmail features. Others are sent back to the depths from which they came. Tasks is an example of a Lab that graduated into a default feature, while Right-side labels was retired when the whole Label system was re-done.
On the Official Gmail Blog, Google has announced the graduating Labs class of February 2010. There's also a group of labs being retired. Google says that their decision to graduate and retire Labs is primarily due to usage and user feedback. Most of the ones graduated seem like pretty logical inclusions. The ones being discontinued seem to fall under the "novelty" category, and probably weren't being used by many people. Google also mentions that "even more labs are on the way." Here's the list:
Graduating:
- Search Autocomplete
- Go To Label
- Forgotten Attachment Detector
- YouTube Previews
- Custom Label Colors
- Vacation Dates
Retiring:
- Muzzle
- Fixed Width Font
- Email Addict
- Location in Signature
- Random Signature
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