"Google account" vs "Gmail account"

With all the discussion surrounding the introduction of Gmail for staff, I thought I'd do a bit of checking to see what effect this may have on our training.

What I was trying to find out was whether or not the move to Gmail means that we will all have a Google account created, that we can use for Google products such as iGoogle, Google Reader, Blogger etc. I had a look at the Project Mercury FAQ page and the Google Accounts help page, and couldn't see anything there about it. I posted a comment to the Project Mercury FAQs asking about it, so I'll let you know what the response is.

The reason I wanted to know this was to see if it would affect our training programme, especially the Blogger and Google Reader components. If Gmail does mean a Google account is created, then that would be helpful to point out to people. They wouldn't have to create their own account - they could use the one associated with their .mq.edu.au email address.

On the other hand, if there isn't a Google account created automatically, then people will need to create their own (I think this is what will happen). If they already use Gmail or any other Google product, then that won't be a problem. Otherwise they can create a Google account, and it doesn't have to be via Gmail. I have a Google account under my .mq.edu.au email address that I use for Google Docs, so staff don't need to sign up for Gmail in order to use Google Reader or Blogger.

I'm probably making this sound more complicated that it actually is. Hopefully I'll have some answers by our meeting next week.