What do you think of email these days?

ripcord

Hi All,
I'm just looking for peoples opinion on what (free) email provider they prefer, and what do they think constitutes a good email address.

Here's the background. Lets say my name is John Doe. For the past 10 years, I've been using yahoo mail, with an email address of johnny.doe@yahoo.ie.
I've never had a problem with yahoo mail, but the "johnny" part of the address doesn't look very professional, and I'm just not that cool "johnny" kid I used to be!!

So I'm thinking of a change. Basically to either Microsoft or Google (because one of them will be ruling the world eventually). So I tried to get new email addresses. Here are the pros and cons of both (as I see them).

For Gmail, I managed to get john.f.doe@gmail.com, where "f" is my middle name. I was lucky to get this as I do actually have a common name in the real world!.
Pros: I like Gmail because it's fast, and, well, everyone is using gmail. And it would be handy to have just one account for android stuff.
Cons: I don't like the Gmail interface (even though they are improving it) and the idea of "tags" instead of "folders" seems unnatural to me and I don't think I could ever get used to it.

For Microsoft, I managed to get john.doe@live.ie and john.f.doe@live.com (not sure which I would use)
Pros: I much prefer the Hotmail interface. I use Skydrive to store my photos so it would be handy to have email in the same place. Will be handy when using Windows 8 - they will alow you to log into the desktop with your windows live ID.
Cons: I'm in the technology business, and there used to be a stigma attached to hotmail, where it wasn't considered very profesional. There were stories of technology job-seekers being rejected purely because they used a hotmail account. I know the addresses are "live" and not "hotmail" but is this still the impression some people have?

Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

demanufactured

I don't like the gmail setup either....so I use outlook 2010 to read my mail ...and u can set gmail to store your mail even after you download it

chin_grin

This link should help your gmail woes.

http://www.google.com/mail/help/tips.html

Some of these tips I have implemented, some I've left it's a personal setup.

Luckily I got in early (back in the invite stage) and got my <firstnameshortenedfulllastname>@gmail.com so that was handy.

There are the gmail labs too and you can set the "conversation" option off to stop it grouping mails if you don't like that feature (I do).

Also if you right click on a mail you can preview it.

iMax

Gmail can pick up hotmail for you.

I hate the gmail interface but it works with the iPhone whereas the hotmail one doesn't.

Hotmail is getting better all the time though & I really like some of their recent changes.

Sad Professor

I'm looking forward to Apple's free iCloud offering. I may ditch Gmail as my primary email address at that point.

iMax

That's the only thing stopping me going back to hotmail full time. Having said that, I try not to log into gmail. the interface makes me angry

Sad Professor

I don't like webmail in general. It was handy years ago as a way to check your email when away from your computer. But most people have email on their phones now, rendering webmail kinda redundant except as a backup.

Google's web interfaces have just gotten worse and worse anyway. Their Google Reader interface used to be better than any client, but now it's just bloated crap.

ripcord

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'm looking forward to Apple's free iCloud offering. I may ditch Gmail as my primary email address at that point.

Hey - not sure what you mean by this.. why would you stop using gmail because you get free space on apples cloud? Do apple provide free web mail????

Sorry, if I'm missing the obvious, heads a bit sore this morning!

Sad Professor

Yeah, iCloud will include a free @me.com email address. Similar to what MobileMe subscribers currently get.

biko

I use www.mail.com, works grand.
Tons of domains to choose from.

ShooterSF

I registered my name as a .com and then setup gmail for the domain and now have me@myname.com and a more vulgar address for correspondence with mates.