Gmail
http://www.gmail.com
Seriously. This is THE email I use. What can I say about it?
The Good (according to me)
- IMAP & POP protocols. If you don’t know what these are it’s okay, but they are just methods that let you use another mail program (for example Outlook or Apple Mail) to open and read your email.
- 6GB+ of storage space. Yes I do occasionally delete stuff, but it’s kinda nice not having to delete it. I’ve got a few MP3 files sitting in the archives in case I lose the original.
- labels & filters. I have someone (an old minister who I haven’t seen in over 10 years) who sends me lots of forwards. No personal notes, just the “Jesus Loves You. Pass this on!” kinda stuff. I’ve got him on auto-archive through a filter.
- Spam protection. Their spam blockers seem to me to be more up to date than Yahoo’s (although I’ve had a significant decrease in Yahoo’s spam in my inbox lately so they must have upgraded their features).
- iPhone interface. Yes, I care about this because I do have an iPhone.
- keyboard shortcuts for the website interface. use the Y key to archive it or the E key.
- built in Instant Messenger with archiving conversation feature
The Bad
- Not your own server.
- The @gmail.com instead of your own @mywebsitename.com
- No offline access to your email.
- built in Instant Messenger