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Amorphous_Snake
June 26th, 2007, 11:27 AM
I use a Yahoo email account. But recently I have been fed up with Yahoo. There was this very important email that I received a day later than it was sent, and ended up asking the sender to send it to a Hotmail account that I have and check every now and then.

The thing is that Gmail privacy policy freaks me out, and I don't like to have a Hotmail account because it doesn't work well with Firefox. I am writing this from PCLOS 2007 and I can't log to my Hotmail Live account as the Live mail is pretty much convinced that I am using the wrong browser.

So what are your suggestions?

Extreme Coder
June 26th, 2007, 11:38 AM
Gmail.

anaconda
June 26th, 2007, 11:39 AM
What is gmail privacy policy?? And what in it freaks you out?

I have been using gmail for a couple of years now, and am satisfied with it... shouldn't I be?

karellen
June 26th, 2007, 11:40 AM
why not both?
hotmail(live mail) works pretty well in safari beta for windows or even in firefox

Amorphous_Snake
June 26th, 2007, 11:41 AM
It's the fact that they scan your email and give you relevant ads. What about my personal emails?!!!

Amorphous_Snake
June 26th, 2007, 11:42 AM
No. I want to use only one.

luca_linux
June 26th, 2007, 11:47 AM
It's the fact that they scan your email and give you relevant ads. What about my personal emails?!!!
Yeah, but that's just for ads. At least they tell you this clearly...maybe other providers do worse without you knowing...you never know.
I like it so far.

Otherwise, if you're really concerned about this, you could buy a domain and and email account offer. ;)

karellen
June 26th, 2007, 11:48 AM
No. I want to use only one.

then go with gmail... - larger storage, better search, integrated talk, tags, pop3

steven8
June 26th, 2007, 11:49 AM
I like gmail, but over the last week, they have started archiving stuff automatically. Not always old stuff, either. They give you 2 gigs of storage, so that's not the issue. I just don't want to forget to reply to something.

Zzl1xndd
June 26th, 2007, 11:55 AM
I'll vote for Gmail as well.

Amorphous_Snake
June 26th, 2007, 11:55 AM
I do like Gmail better than Hotmail. I need the opinion of someone who used Gmail for a long time.

Besides, how long does Google stores the info they get from checking you emails?

luca_linux
June 26th, 2007, 11:57 AM
I like gmail, but over the last week, they have started archiving stuff automatically. Not always old stuff, either. They give you 2 gigs of storage, so that's not the issue. I just don't want to forget to reply to something.
Doesn't happen to me.

mthakur2006
June 26th, 2007, 12:06 PM
Rediffmail!!! unlimited storage, but poor otherwise. It's not as popular, so I guess its more secure ;)

karellen
June 26th, 2007, 12:10 PM
I do like Gmail better than Hotmail. I need the opinion of someone who used Gmail for a long time.

Besides, how long does Google stores the info they get from checking you emails?

I'm using gmail since 2004, but I really can't answer your question. anyway, there are millions of gmail users, so I think there's nothing you should worry about. a private user is so insignifcant for a corporation so nobody will ever bother checking what and when you did...

Zzl1xndd
June 26th, 2007, 12:10 PM
I'v been using Gmail for a long time and have yet to have anything archived automaticly. I was invited almost 2 yeats ago now :)

Spr0k3t
June 26th, 2007, 12:24 PM
It's the fact that they scan your email and give you relevant ads. What about my personal emails?!!!

This means nothing tbh. The scanning they do is just like any other scanning they perform for AdWords in their search results. It's not like someone goes in and actively reads your email flagging it for specific content. The way I have my gmail set up, I don't ever see the ads either. I get more corporate spam from the hotmail address than I do from gmail. With hotmail you can mark the messages as spam, set a junk filter, even set to nuke on everything from their corporate "mole", but you will still get email from them advertising junk. With the right add-ins for firefox (greasemonkey & customizegmail), you won't have to see any advertisements again.

If you are really that worried about privacy, you should create your own server and host it. As a general rule of thumb, you are never safe on the internet regardless of where you surf or how.

However, back on topic... I would create an address for both hotmail and gmail. Use gmail for your real address and use hotmail to collect as much junk as you can. If you start getting bombed with hundreds of useless email messages an hour, just think of what that's doing to MS's servers? Muahahahaha!

Circus-Killer
June 26th, 2007, 12:29 PM
been using gmail for 2 years now, and still love it.
i honestly dont see myself changing email addresses for a long long time.

Amorphous_Snake
June 26th, 2007, 12:29 PM
Well, thanks guys. I will try Gmail for a week or two and see for myself.

jagomez
June 26th, 2007, 12:51 PM
Gmail !

Rutabega
June 26th, 2007, 12:57 PM
I use gmail for my e-mail needs. I haven't received any spam or junkmail.

earobinson
June 26th, 2007, 01:03 PM
Gmail, we should rally have voting options at the top of this thread, mods messaged

John.Michael.Kane
June 26th, 2007, 01:10 PM
Gmail, we should rally have voting options at the top of this thread, mods messaged

Fixed.

UbuntuniX
June 26th, 2007, 01:16 PM
GMail all the way. Yahoo! Mail is nice too, but I prefer Google Mail.

Why would you use Hotmail? :p

helliewm
June 26th, 2007, 01:46 PM
Try this forum www.emaildiscussions.com. This is forum of www.emailaddresses.com/forum both are valid urls for the same forum.

www.fastmail.fm provide a free service service as well as a paid for service. www.runbox.com and www.tuffmail.com do paid for services only but both offer free trial accounts.

I have used all 3 providers for work and personal emails for the past 3 years and all are excellent. You get a very personal service from all 3 email providers. They are all absolutely excellent. It just depends which you prefer, all down to personal preference at the end of the day.

Helen

Bartender
June 26th, 2007, 01:51 PM
Gmail is easy to set up in Thunderbird. Hotmail doesn't want you getting your mail via an email client so you have to fake them out with additional programs. Why put up with the extra hassle?

Dragonbite
June 26th, 2007, 02:23 PM
I'm using Gmail because it works better for me.


I have it accessible at work (or anywhere else) and it is not too bad over dial-up (though I am the only one I know with dial-up)
I have it download at home to my POP3 account, but the messages are still online (archived) so I have
a backup of my mail messages online
can access already downloaded messages from the web anywhere

I have my POP3 client auto-BCC the same Gmail account so I also have a copy of my sent messages available online too (and it is set online to auto-archive and move the message to another folder). Being auto-archived, I don't download it into my POP3 client so I have 1 copy on each location
The search function is really good
I use Google Calendar, Documents and Reader which is all integrated;
Calendar can email me reminders
I can save attachments directly into Google Documents
I like Google Reader for RSS feeds (no real mail tie-in)


Now if they could make it easy to auto-synch the email address book, or provide an IMAP ( or Exchagne-like) connection, that would be really cool. :)

I haven't had any issues with Google overall. I think my hardest issue was picking a name! :)

mcurtiss1970
June 26th, 2007, 02:29 PM
i used to love Yahoo mail but since the beta came out (and it could be a coincidence) the spam level got too high for me and I switched fulltime to gmail.

M$LOL
June 26th, 2007, 02:32 PM
Why would you use Hotmail? :p

For spam.

_simon_
June 26th, 2007, 02:35 PM
Swapped from Hotmail to Gmail years ago because Hotmail was always down.

Gmail's spam filter is pretty good, I get my mail via Thunderbird and very, very rarely get spam in my inbox. if I do then I just log into Gamil online and mark the offending item as spam and i never receive it again.

Bavo
June 26th, 2007, 02:44 PM
I do like Gmail better than Hotmail. I need the opinion of someone who used Gmail for a long time.

Besides, how long does Google stores the info they get from checking you emails?

They don't / forever <-- pick one :)

My guess is that by that question you mean that if they scan your mail for supplying ads, do they also store the data they scanned.
No they don't, the ads are chosen ob basis of some keywords in the message you read.
On the other hand why would you even care, in the end they do HAVE all your emails on their servers.

I would definitely go for gmail, i trust google more than microsoft, i like the layout of gmail better, they give you more storage, and probably the best off all they do have a very good spam-filter (the spamfilter of hotmail sucks big time).

I don't have an hotmail account myself, but i have to send mails to a group of people from time to time, and some people with hotmailaddresses often don't receive my mails.

Bartender
June 26th, 2007, 02:46 PM
it is not too bad over dial-up (though I am the only one I know with dial-up)

Well, we don't know each other, but if it makes you feel any better, I'm on dial-up too. :(

tgrisier
June 26th, 2007, 02:48 PM
Gmail -- It's not owned by MicroSoft...yet.

phidia
June 26th, 2007, 02:56 PM
GMail all the way. Yahoo! Mail is nice too, but I prefer Google Mail.

Why would you use Hotmail? :p

My thoughts + question exactly. Besides hotmail is run/owned by M$ isn't it?

Lycos mail isn't too bad if you want to try something different and there's x-mail.net when it's up (no ads there-no 2GB's of storage either) Just do the gmail thing already.

timcredible
June 26th, 2007, 02:59 PM
google supports linux, hotmail is owned by ms. enough said?

Dokatz
June 26th, 2007, 03:00 PM
I've used hotmail for years, And I already prefer my gmail account I've had for a couple months. It's more flexible and I get a whole lot less spam (Crap sent from microsweet or the 'hotmail team' is still fricking spam, Frack any person who doesn't think so)

DC@DR
June 26th, 2007, 03:03 PM
Gmail, OF COURSE, not f*cking mail service from M$ (Sorry for cursing like that) :D

Dragonbite
June 26th, 2007, 03:05 PM
google supports linux, hotmail is owned by ms. enough said?If Google supports linux, then why is Picasa run through Wine and not native (not sure if the features that were missing before are still missing)? And what about SketchUp, Google Desktop and Google Talk!?

floke
June 26th, 2007, 03:10 PM
Use gmail and get customizegoogle for firefox - then simply turn the ads off in both google and gmail. Also get the 'better gmail' extension - you can add skins etc. to it and make it look and function better.

Watson
June 26th, 2007, 03:38 PM
Gmail rules!!

bobbocanfly
June 26th, 2007, 03:52 PM
To get round the scanning your email for ads thing (which i heard was only done when your browser requests the ads from the gold servers) i use Gmail Pop3/SMTP servers via Thunderbird. Very good service and has only been down once when i checked my email in the last 2 years (and i check my email lots).

odiseo77
June 26th, 2007, 04:38 PM
I've been using gmail for about 2 years now and I find it much better than hotmail (attachments upload and download faster than hotmail, for example, has more storage, etc). As for the privacy issues, well, I don't think any e-mail service offers you 100% privacy, unfortunately (I read somewhere that after 9/11 M$ made a deal with the US NSA which would allow this agency to have access to e-mail accounts for "security reasons" so...).

frodon
June 26th, 2007, 05:05 PM
Both are bad for me because emails are processed, i use gmail account only for mailing lists otherwise i use the mail account offered by my ISP.
Except this personal note gmail offers far more features than hotmail so between the 2 i find gmail better.

LookTJ
June 26th, 2007, 05:52 PM
Gmail...Hotmail has spam and a bunch of ads.

jgrabham
June 26th, 2007, 06:31 PM
Gmail...Hotmail has spam and a bunch of ads.

Which they insert into outgoing emails! It's very annoying being told to get hotmail whenever someone with a hotmail account emails me

notwen
June 26th, 2007, 06:32 PM
Been using Gmail for 3 years now w/o one single complaint. I get some spam, but it never reaches my inbox. =]

DalekClock
June 26th, 2007, 07:32 PM
I still haven't filled 1% of my Google Mail inbox and I get new emails every day. Plus I get to import emails from my old account that I had before.

Three cheers for Google Mail!:D

Fakircho
June 26th, 2007, 07:36 PM
Gmail is the way .....

Dokatz
June 27th, 2007, 02:37 AM
Gmail is easy to set up in Thunderbird. Hotmail doesn't want you getting your mail via an email client so you have to fake them out with additional programs. Why put up with the extra hassle?

Yeah I only used thunderbird for a short while, But that's a great reason I always forget about.

starcraft.man
June 27th, 2007, 02:46 AM
GMAIL! Better the devil that hasn't wronged me yet, than the one that has so freely and openly... (Hotmail/MS being the latter).

As for Privacy Policy... don't send anything super important to it if your that paranoid. Like some genius idea that will revolutionize internet....

RAV TUX
June 27th, 2007, 02:58 AM
Yahoo premium business account....

Having used both G-Mail and HotMail....

I have found Yahoo to be the most reliable, in spite of the OP's post.

I have never had any spam, just set your user controls correctly, I have unlimited space. There are no ads of any kind in my Yahoo Mail. All my mail has been delivered instantaneously.

Most importantly my e-mail account represents one of my domain names:

Jozef@OzEnterprise.com

This is not a free Yahoo e-mail service, if you want free go with g-mail. Besides that Yahoo still owns a lot of Google shares.

DarkDancer
June 27th, 2007, 03:10 AM
I have my POP3 client auto-BCC the same Gmail account so I also have a copy of my sent messages available online too (and it is set online to auto-archive and move the message to another folder). Being auto-archived, I don't download it into my POP3 client so I have 1 copy on each location

I use Gmail with a pop3 (Thunderbird) and when I send outgoing e-mails, they show un in the sent box on the google server. I didn't have to set up anything special.

ice60
June 27th, 2007, 03:24 AM
hotmail has recently changed i think, there's also something called live mail by MS too, that's suppose to be good i think.

i use the customizegoogle firefox extension to make it anonymise all the google cookies and make gmail and other google stuff use https instead of http. with opera i just make sure i connect to gmail using https, if you don't connect with https, but use http, the password is sent encrypted, but then it goes back to http for your emails.

another good thing about gmail is it doesn't put your IP in the headers, whereas other web based email does i think.

having said that i don't use email, apart from very trivial things like joining forums because i don't like the privacy issues. it's safer to see someone face-to-face lol

euler_fan
June 27th, 2007, 03:50 AM
I use both--my hotmail is my legacy junk account, but I prefer gmail and am slowly trying to switch everything and everyone that matters over to it.

kevinlyfellow
June 27th, 2007, 04:16 AM
If Google supports linux, then why is Picasa run through Wine and not native (not sure if the features that were missing before are still missing)? And what about SketchUp, Google Desktop and Google Talk!?

But Picasa runs in wine and google made sure of it and sent over 100 bug fixes off to the wine project. This is something that they didn't need to do...

Dragonbite
June 27th, 2007, 01:50 PM
But Picasa runs in wine and google made sure of it and sent over 100 bug fixes off to the wine project. This is something that they didn't need to do...Point taken.

atbnet
June 27th, 2007, 02:19 PM
Gmail without a doubt. Been using it for about three years exactly.

forrestcupp
June 27th, 2007, 02:38 PM
Who is going to support Microsoft's Hotmail in this forum?

Anyway, I just switched from yahoo to gmail because of gmail's POP3 capability. It's a lot easier to set up in Thunderbird than yahoo. I was using ypops to get yahoo working in Thunderbird, and it's pretty buggy and sporadic. Gmail is a breeze to use, and it never messes up. I don't know what hotmail would be like in Thunderbird.

karellen
June 27th, 2007, 02:43 PM
Who is going to support Microsoft's Hotmail in this forum?

Anyway, I just switched from yahoo to gmail because of gmail's POP3 capability. It's a lot easier to set up in Thunderbird than yahoo. I was using ypops to get yahoo working in Thunderbird, and it's pretty buggy and sporadic. Gmail is a breeze to use, and it never messes up. I don't know what hotmail would be like in Thunderbird.

as far as I know, hotmail/live doesn't have pop3 support for a free account

Pathfinder_
June 27th, 2007, 03:35 PM
i use inbox.com mail. has free POP3 + 5GB + storage + photo album.

xyz
June 27th, 2007, 03:44 PM
Gmail and a few others like the one provided by Cablecom (my ISP) and Sunrise (my mobile phone provider).

Dragonbite
June 28th, 2007, 01:48 PM
But Picasa runs in wine and google made sure of it and sent over 100 bug fixes off to the wine project. This is something that they didn't need to do...Just an update.. Google now offers Google Desktop for Linux (http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8313017510.html).

BLTicklemonster
June 28th, 2007, 02:22 PM
Gmail works great for me. All my seditious anti-government emails come through in a timely fashion, and all my ads for Gore, Hillary, Kerry, and Al Franken pop up just like they ought to.

I'm totally pleased with Gmail!!!

RAV TUX
June 29th, 2007, 02:23 AM
having said that i don't use email, apart from very trivial things like joining forums because i don't like the privacy issues. it's safer to see someone face-to-face lol

good point ;)

andrew.46
July 9th, 2007, 10:23 AM
Hi,

Great thing about Gmail is the ability to download via an MTA such as Fetchmail / Procmail, read in Mutt and send back via ssmtp:

http://people.aapt.net.au/~adjlstrong/mutt.html

and you never see the Gmail adds and if set up properly it looks to most as if the mail is coming _directly_ from Gmail. Can't do that with Hotmail :-)

Andrew

stimpack
July 9th, 2007, 11:04 AM
I think it's pretty clear Google has a friend or two in the Linux world :).

Seriously, Gmail is very nice, there are also many superb products you can use your google account for. I love it.

Yahoo, had a few problems with mails not being recieved. New beta annoys me with that "man dancing" animation when it should be showing my email.

Hotmail, I know its cool to bash MS, I do it alot myself, but its really hard not to bash hotmail and its deployment of 50,000 browser cookies. If fact I can't find anything I like about it.

waxapple
July 9th, 2007, 11:18 AM
GMail.

dizee
July 9th, 2007, 11:25 AM
Hotmail's spam filter is useless in my experience, so I use Gmail.

dptxp
July 9th, 2007, 12:01 PM
I use Yahoo, Rediffmail and Gmail.

Yahoo is my oldest, now lot of spam and late delivery. The Beta is useless. I use it for archiving
mails in separate folders. UNLIMITED STORAGE NOW. Far too many ads.

Rediff too gets lot of spams. I use it for places where I just have to give an ID. UNLIMITED STORAGE but I do not like user interface. Too many Ads. Their Beta too was useless.

Gmail is cool. I use it for daily mails. No Ads (except small google-ads in text). It keeps mails in separate threads, well organized. Spam filter is great too.

lisati
July 9th, 2007, 12:05 PM
GMAIL - don't need to pay for POP3 access.....

AlexenderReez
July 9th, 2007, 12:09 PM
vote for gmail...many friend use it..so i don't have any choice ....but use yahoo for sometime....like usual...receive a lot of spam..but i don't mind about it..so i just put my email in my signature..

mytwobears
July 9th, 2007, 12:17 PM
Gmail. Works great with Thunderbird and I love how I can directly download/save an attachment into google docs and have it available wherever I go. Love being able to open up an attachment directly into google docs as well.

Very fast, offers great organization capabilities and wonderful spam filter. Loves that it scans emails for viruses too! I truly appreciate that the text based adds are very discrete, definitely not intrusive. Have been using it now for 4 years.

It may have changed, but when I used Hotmail the entire interface was filled with ads, sometimes it was hard to figure out where my emails were, awful to nonexistent spam filters and lots of inadequate space issues, inboxes would be too full to accept messages, attachments were too big for it to send or accept, or you just couldn't open your attachments when you did receive one. Craziness!

shafin
July 9th, 2007, 12:40 PM
Gmail.

I use Yahoo Also.

proalan
July 9th, 2007, 01:30 PM
GMAIL - don't need to pay for POP3 access.....

awsome, I've dumped my yahoo and hotmail accounts now. I like that theres no adverts being thrown at you.

hidey
July 9th, 2007, 01:48 PM
I recently migrated all the important stuff from Yahoo to GMail for the POP3 support. Just like the convenience a lot better and not having to pay for it

nsleiman
July 23rd, 2007, 03:57 PM
Gmail :)

RAV TUX
July 24th, 2007, 12:43 AM
Yahoo premium business account....

Having used both G-Mail and HotMail....

I have found Yahoo to be the most reliable, in spite of the OP's post.

I have never had any spam, just set your user controls correctly, I have unlimited space. There are no ads of any kind in my Yahoo Mail. All my mail has been delivered instantaneously.

Most importantly my e-mail account represents one of my domain names:

Jozef@OzEnterprise.com

This is not a free Yahoo e-mail service, if you want free go with g-mail. Besides that Yahoo still owns a lot of Google shares.

With Yahoo I have unlimited storage.

Kingsley
July 24th, 2007, 12:55 AM
Use Gmail for email and Hotmail to bot the Live Search Club games :D.

DeadSuperHero
July 24th, 2007, 08:19 AM
Gmail. I occasionally login to Hotmail, just to laugh at all the Spam mail I never deleted, and can't get hurt by.
It also works amazingly well with Thunderbird, and Google Desktop. It's also pleasantly surprising to be able to search through your emails with Google Desktop, that itself is very useful.

lisati
July 24th, 2007, 08:25 AM
One advantage of Gmail is that it can be used with email software! MSN like people to pay a fee to retrieve mail from Hotmail via email software, as is the case with some Yahoo accounts. I managed to score free pop3 access for Yahoo 'coz I didn't use the a standard yahoo.com email address but used a yahoo.co.nz address instead.

AceofSpades19
July 24th, 2007, 08:29 AM
Gmail is the best, it offers the most storage, you can hook it up to thunderbird for free and you can search your emails with google :)

jusmurph
July 24th, 2007, 09:02 AM
Gmail.

Free POP

TeKniKal
July 30th, 2007, 04:24 PM
It's the fact that they scan your email and give you relevant ads. What about my personal emails?!!!

I see nothing wrong with that. Look, there systems are fully automated, so no human being is reading the millions of mails that pass through GMail. And if Google had such sweat shop, I see no reason why Hotmail, Yahoo wouldn't have such thing. Every mail provider has the possibility to read your mail, except if they expect you to have a public/private key pair (which they don't).

As thus, your argument is entirely invalid. Hotmail administrators could have just the same possibilities, without MS advertising with it. It is a fact that Google has better search technology, but filtering out words is something that is extremely easy. If you need a complete safe mail transit, I suggest you don't just email around, this is by implementation unsafe. Let's just consider the SMTP/POP3-protocols: they send your password in plain text, they send your messages in plain text. No other security whatsoever. I know GMail/Hotmail use HTTP, but the situation is entirely the same, as over normal HTTP, there is no added security layer (except when using HTTPS). Another layer of security would be using PGP/GPG. I think this can be achieved in GMail with GreaseMonkey. That way, even Google shouldn't be able to read your mails.

I myself use both Hotmail and GMail, but I prefer GMail. Just because I trust Google more than I trust MS, their interface is far better and their whole concept is just far better (labels instead of folders, just a whooping fast search box integrated, 2G and growing), while Hotmail is just plain slow which hinders its usage and it has clearly only improved after GMail showed the way, without being innovative on itself. The only reason I still use that account is historical: my MSN account is linked to that account, I see no reason to get everybody to change my contact info. And people still annoy me when they send me mails over Hotmail, I don't tend to read them that often (which should be better in the future as I have installed a Hotmail to POP/SMTP server on my machine, but I expect this server to break every now and then). That is the main problem with MS: people try to build onto their products to improve them, but for some reason MS doesn't like that (and yes, in this case they make money out of selling the service others provide for free, in return MS breaks the other service every now and then; but I know other cases where they voluntarily break products (MSN/Live Messenger) to keep third party software out of it (MsgPlus which has been the only reason I remained using MSN Messenger on Windows, nowadays I'm completely satisfied by Pidgin, which provides a clean interface together with the most important functionality), and then provide a mangled version of their own which just usurps the creativity of the 3rd party without satisfying its clients).

Alexander2007
July 30th, 2007, 04:59 PM
I see nothing wrong with that. Look, there systems are fully automated, so no human being is reading the millions of mails that pass through GMail. And if Google had such sweat shop, I see no reason why Hotmail, Yahoo wouldn't have such thing. Every mail provider has the possibility to read your mail, except if they expect you to have a public/private key pair (which they don't).

As thus, your argument is entirely invalid. Hotmail administrators could have just the same possibilities, without MS advertising with it. It is a fact that Google has better search technology, but filtering out words is something that is extremely easy. If you need a complete safe mail transit, I suggest you don't just email around, this is by implementation unsafe. Let's just consider the SMTP/POP3-protocols: they send your password in plain text, they send your messages in plain text. No other security whatsoever. I know GMail/Hotmail use HTTP, but the situation is entirely the same, as over normal HTTP, there is no added security layer (except when using HTTPS). Another layer of security would be using PGP/GPG. I think this can be achieved in GMail with GreaseMonkey. That way, even Google shouldn't be able to read your mails.

I myself use both Hotmail and GMail, but I prefer GMail. Just because I trust Google more than I trust MS, their interface is far better and their whole concept is just far better (labels instead of folders, just a whooping fast search box integrated, 2G and growing), while Hotmail is just plain slow which hinders its usage and it has clearly only improved after GMail showed the way, without being innovative on itself. The only reason I still use that account is historical: my MSN account is linked to that account, I see no reason to get everybody to change my contact info. And people still annoy me when they send me mails over Hotmail, I don't tend to read them that often (which should be better in the future as I have installed a Hotmail to POP/SMTP server on my machine, but I expect this server to break every now and then). That is the main problem with MS: people try to build onto their products to improve them, but for some reason MS doesn't like that (and yes, in this case they make money out of selling the service others provide for free, in return MS breaks the other service every now and then; but I know other cases where they voluntarily break products (MSN/Live Messenger) to keep third party software out of it (MsgPlus which has been the only reason I remained using MSN Messenger on Windows, nowadays I'm completely satisfied by Pidgin, which provides a clean interface together with the most important functionality), and then provide a mangled version of their own which just usurps the creativity of the 3rd party without satisfying its clients).

I much prefer Gmal too, I wish I never had to use Hotmail, but thats were my buddies are at. :(

xhizors
July 30th, 2007, 05:32 PM
Most definitely Gmail. I've been using it for about a year almost and I've never once had even a trace of spam. The user interface is nice and of course, free pop. After using gmail... I couldn't imagine even attempting to go elsewhere. Nothing could compare in my opinion.

Sayers
July 30th, 2007, 05:47 PM
Gmail is great. Plus hot mail is microsoft :p

rich.bradshaw
July 30th, 2007, 06:55 PM
Gmail has pop3 access and loads of features that HoTMaiL doesn't have.

Plus it's actually nice to look at and is usable.

The only people who still use HoTMaiL are people who don't really use computers.

Ubunted
July 30th, 2007, 07:53 PM
I've started to become a little leery about Gmail's privacy policy myself, but the spam filter is just so good!

So I set Gmail to forward all my mail to an address provided by my ISP (that I work for and therefore KNOW the info is safe) and have it delete its copies immediately.

Once I had that set I went through Gmail and "deleted" every last contact and email I could, forwarding the important stuff to my other account.

Bam. The privacy of paid-for email service with the spam filtering powers of Google.

andrew.46
July 30th, 2007, 10:01 PM
Hi,

You have a variation of my own reasons for using Gmail:


The privacy of paid-for email service with the spam filtering powers of Google.

I download my mail from Gmail using Fetchmail and send mail using Gmail as a relay. I have been setting up filters at the Gmail end to lose alll the spam so it does not ever get to my machine.

Andrew

Dimitriid
July 30th, 2007, 10:19 PM
Both Gmail and Hotmail are security liabilities. So for my confidential stuff neither will suffice. Bear in mind that one of the main reasons I moved to Ubuntu is security, In fact Im moving my main mail to encrypted connection and using GnuPG ( via Engmail plugin for Thunderbird for now ) for local encryption too so I have added considerable levels of security. My gmail has been severely compromised as it stands and I only use it for every day chatter.

But if security wasn't a big concern for me I'd choose gmail over hotmail in a second.

misfitpierce
July 30th, 2007, 10:21 PM
Gmail kills microsofts ad infested crappy hotmail service.

mrbungle
July 30th, 2007, 10:30 PM
gmail just knows what the people want and know how to make it work right.

GMAIL!!

uggeli
July 30th, 2007, 10:49 PM
I never had an hotmail account and never will, so gmail it is. :)

vishzilla
August 14th, 2007, 03:37 PM
Gmail, I like the filters and labels: its a shade different from Yahoo and Live Hotmail

regomodo
August 14th, 2007, 03:50 PM
i have both and am slowly migrating from hotmail to gmail, mainly because its a lot better and i don't like microsoft

BOBSONATOR
August 14th, 2007, 03:53 PM
gmail FTW

triptoe
August 14th, 2007, 03:55 PM
As far as the privacy issue goes, it has already been demonstrated that the government has a right to read emails without warrants because it is considered public domain

AusIV4
August 14th, 2007, 04:08 PM
I've not used Hotmail in quite some time, but GMail is the best e-mail experience I've had. I use several different computers - I have two of my own, and often use public computers or those of friends and family, so web based is nice (I also download it onto my laptop for use when I don't have internet access).

GMail offers plenty of storage, excellent spam filters, and excellent organizational tools. I own a domain, so whenever I need to give a different group an e-mail address, I can just use <new e-mail>@mydomain.com. If I need to send e-mail from that address, GMail will let me add it as an available from address. If I start getting spam to that address, GMail will let me create a filter to automatically delete all e-mail to it. I can also organize my e-mail with Labels based on any information in the e-mail.

I don't worry about privacy. They use automated tools to scan your e-mail to show you advertisements. Automated tools are impartial to your data, and no human should ever see it.

Lastly, I also use Google Calendar, and GMail blends quite nicely with Google Calendar.

[EDIT]
As far as the privacy issue goes, it has already been demonstrated that the government has a right to read emails without warrants because it is considered public domain
What??? That's absurd. Public domain would mean anyone has a right to read anyone else's e-mail. The government may have created some loophole so they can read e-mails of a suspected criminal without a warrant, but unless you can point me to a case that says otherwise, they can't just read every e-mail that's ever sent.

JAPrufrock
August 14th, 2007, 04:27 PM
Gmail. Sung to the tine of> It's getting better all the ti..i..ime. It's getting better all the time.

crimesaucer
August 14th, 2007, 06:03 PM
Gmail with these 3 Stylish scripts:
http://userstyles.org/styles/3065
http://userstyles.org/styles/1483
http://userstyles.org/styles/1916

...then just change the colors to match the current gtk theme.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/crimesaucer/Screenshot-20-17.png

latecomer
August 14th, 2007, 06:05 PM
hotmail is pretty much crap, I only have an account there for msn/gaim.
gmail is alright, though I use it mainly for mailing lists and such; I prefer yahoo's beta (it's a layout thing).
I also have a mail account with my ISP, which I use for my 'important' mails.
Spam-wise I don't really have any problems, although the hotmail account started getting spam for a while, even though I never use it. #-o

Quillz
August 14th, 2007, 06:22 PM
Windows Live Hotmail is much improved, although I still prefer GMail over all. Offering free POP3 access will always keep me coming back to GMail.

soxs
August 18th, 2007, 08:33 PM
gmail user (well, in fact I have an googlemail-account)
I like it, even if the server as from time to time some downtime.. (10-20mins)

likemindead
August 18th, 2007, 08:45 PM
Gmail 4 life.

Word to your respective mothers.

goumples
August 18th, 2007, 10:16 PM
I'll vote for Gmail as well.

Gmail ftw. I quit using Yahoo the minute they ceased allowing you to POP out to an email client.

Epilonsama
August 18th, 2007, 10:47 PM
Gmail all the way :guitar:

Depressed Man
August 19th, 2007, 01:15 AM
I have two hotmail and one yahoo account right now. I currently access them with the webmail extension for Thunderbird to download the emails. It works great but I know TB's support will end one day (if the project isn't picked up by someone else).

I've been meaning to switch them all to a gmail account but I can't think of how to reroute all my emails there (well I guess there's forwarding). But I kinda want to eventually end those accounts (but I have so much stuff tied to them right now lol).

Symbolis
August 31st, 2007, 03:31 PM
I've been meaning to switch them all to a gmail account but I can't think of how to reroute all my emails there (well I guess there's forwarding). But I kinda want to eventually end those accounts (but I have so much stuff tied to them right now lol).

GMail is actually quite nice for this.

When you first sign up, you'll get a standard "welcome' email.

In this, there's a link to a "Switching Guide", which will tell you 1. How to import contacts from different services(Note: OO.o spreadsheet can save to the appropriate format), 2. How to "Announce" your new address, 3. How to 'remind' people of your new address and 4. Use GMail to access other webmail accounts.

I haven't tested #4, but it _should_ work with HoTMaiL.

Oh...and I used HoTMaiL for ages before switching to GMail. Started before MicroSoft bought them up.

eukhost.com
September 1st, 2007, 01:17 PM
Gmail - better storage space, can be accessed through POP3 secured server which means mails can be accessed through popular e-mail software like Outlook.

TwistydMorticia
September 5th, 2007, 12:35 PM
Gmail, I gave up Notmail a while ago, after getting spam nicely in my inbox and important mail in the spam folder or not even delivered! Maybe a live mail teething trouble.

To be fair when I used to pay for Hotmail Plus (in the beginning) MS did help a lot when I got a worm, they sorted it out a.s.a.p.

However my mum uses Ubuntu and can no longer download email attachments which she needs for her work/help. My Ubuntu savvy son cannot sort it so she may change to Gmail.

I use Yahoo! too.

n3tfury
September 5th, 2007, 01:50 PM
spr0k3t hit the nail on the head.

gmail here also. be sure to use https://mail.google.com to encrypt your entire session, not just the log in page.

Beau D.
September 5th, 2007, 03:03 PM
Gmail all the way now. I was a big hotmail proponent for quite some time. They killed POP service..and I went to Yahoo. Now I am on Gmail. Ad's? I don't see nop stinking ad's. I configured Evolution to go get my mail for me..and delete it from the server. If any one else had a decent amount of storage and POP I would try it. I am not paying for a hotmail/windows mail live whatever they call it for a POP account.

Beau D.

southernman
September 5th, 2007, 03:49 PM
+1 Gmail

Let Thunderbird do your dirty work in connecting to it and pulling down your mail... keep a backup on gmail. Never have to login to gmail and deal with the adverts, unless you need to change some settings of course. ;)

n3tfury
September 5th, 2007, 03:53 PM
interesting to see how many people are bothered by text based ads. i don't even notice them and one of the reasons i use gmail is because i don't want an email client.

bigbearomaha
September 5th, 2007, 04:02 PM
I have multiple email accts. and they include both gmail and hotmail and others.

for "public" email, I prefer to use gmail. I use hotmail as a email for when someone needs an email addy when you sign up at a commercial website, like crayola .com, etc, a place to send ads and product updates, etc.

for personal email and email I don't need everyone else combing through, I use a local email server.

Big Bear

Dr Small
September 5th, 2007, 04:04 PM
I use hackermail and linuxmail for my email addresses.

karellen
September 5th, 2007, 04:47 PM
I use both gmail and hotmail (live) mail. and I keep the yahoo account for yahoo messenger. I guess I just like diversity...:)