I joined the Gmail Beta during the time it was still being referred internally as Caribou and was still skunkworks–hell, sometime in 2003. There was a recognizable need for an updated email service and Buchheit knew that. Especially considering the alternatives at the time were mainly static HTTP pages with no search features and relied heavily on client-side JavaScript for functionality. The plan was always to have a free tier for private individuals and to sell a non-free version of Gmail to businesses as it was being discussed in that capacity even back then. However, Gmail was always marketed as a socially responsible email provider, just like all of Google products are/were.

It’s an oversimplification, but I feel like its still an accurate characterization.