Google is making an almost historical move today, as it sheds the beta tag off some of its most popular products, like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. The move was announced earlier this year, but is just now being rolled out. While some services have had the tag for several years now, it was confusing for some, while also alienating some of the enterprise customers.

“Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk — both enterprise and consumer versions — are now out of beta. ‘Beta’ will be removed from the product logos today, but we'll continue to innovate and improve upon the applications whether or not there's a small ‘beta’ beneath the logo. Indeed, today we're also announcing some other Google Apps features that we think will appeal to large enterprises: mail delegation, mail retention and ongoing enhancements to Apps reliability,” Matthew Glotzbach, director, Product Management, Google Enterprise, wrote on the Official Google Blog.

Gmail has been sporting the “beta” label for five years now, yet it is one of the most popular online email clients in the world, currently at the number-three spot behind Yahoo Mail and Microsoft's Hotmail. It is just the fourth client in the US, but huge growth in the last year has it breathing down the necks of rivals AOL Mail and Windows Live Hotmail, to take the number-two spot after Yahoo Mail, which enjoys a comfortable lead.

Other Google products are equally mature, yet still have the beta label several years after they've been released. Still, the move isn't about stability or maturity, it's just being made to calm some of the enterprise customers that may have been reluctant to pay for a product still in beta. While all of the products shedding their beta tag today are free for consumers, Google also offers a paid package for enterprises with the four products and 24/7 support bundled for $50 a year per user.