Back during the advent of the Internet, you made a lot of decisions, the most important being your e-mail provider.
Even after a decade, that old-timer e-mail probably remains your login on the numerous Web sites you still frequent. Unlike that 10-year-old Lycos relic, however, the Internet is constantly changing, which is a good thing for us users.
Web mail veterans Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail have gotten a fresh coat of paint, and relative newcomers like Gmail are showing that innovation leads to success. But how will any of that contribute to a victory?
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly MSN Hotmail, has been around for 12 years and recently in 2007 was rebuilt with an AJAX interface that focused on simplicity, speed and security. This was great news to hear, because until then Hotmail had been stuck in the time where design barely kept pace with what was already poor functionality.
Unfortunately, Hotmail's redesign leaves everything with only a cliché Web 2.0 gradient.
Logic would dictate, if not superficially, the improvements must lie underneath the hood of the Hotmail beast. Too bad for us, though, because not much has changed there either. Page loads are indeed faster, but a host of legacy problems remain. Only the most restrictive level of spam filtering will catch a sufficient number of unsolicited e-mails, but will also trash messages sent from completely legitimate sources. There is no way to connect with a secure connection with Hotmail, and it still does not work with most modern browsers.
In fact, Hotmail clearly states that you must use Internet Explorer or Firefox 2 for the full version of the Web client. This is not to mention that, though planned, Hotmail still has no cross-platform messenger integration.
Hotmail does, however, have some notable though not especially unique features: There is a built-in audio player; users can activate mobile alerts; e-mails can be dragged and dropped through Internet black magic (i.e. AJAX); and there is spell-check, albeit only for Internet Explorer. That, however, is just about all Hotmail has got going for it.
Yahoo! Mail tells a similar, though less depressing, tale. Out of the three providers mentioned, Yahoo! Mail offers the richest interface, one that is on par with some desktop clients. There are custom context menus, drag-and-drop capabilities and a tabbed-interface implementation that allows tabs for e-mail folders, e-mail composition, Yahoo! Messenger or Windows Live Messenger chats and SMS texts. Integration between Yahoo! Mail and other Yahoo! services, like the calendar and notepad, is there but extremely lackluster compared to what it could have been.
Unfortunately, Yahoo! Mail has so many more problems than highlights. Security is a huge issue with keywords like "expression" or "eval" being modified in e-mails to prevent illicit activities, and certain e-mails will actually be greylisted, resulting in delays upward of several hours. E-mails between Yahoo! and Gmail accounts usually result in broken threading on the Gmail side of things, which can contribute to the already dysfunctional search feature that will return incomplete or erroneous results.
Gmail, though the least sophisticated in terms of interface, is easily the most complete service of the three. Anything Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail can offer, Gmail also provides, including spell-check, audio player, virus scanner and so much more. Gmail offers robust integration with just about every other Google product available, custom "From" addresses and plus-addressing of e-mails, chat integration for Google Talk and AOL Instant Messenger, and the most complete search and filter methods out of the three, including tags and threading. Gmail is also the only one to offer secure connections to prevent eavesdropping.
Gmail's problems are, at worst, preferential. E-mails include Google advertisements, which can be construed as a privacy issue in that these ads are context-sensitive. The interface is also, as said before, pretty tame considering Google's penchant for innovation in rich Web applications. There is no dragging, dropping or excessive visual flourishes. Though this also results in extremely speedy page loads and a clean and simple-to-navigate interface.
Overall, unless you send time and security sensitive e-mails by the boatload, it's hard to say any of these services actually offer a critical advantage over the others. It really comes down to what you're looking for on the front-end of the e-mail experience. Yahoo! Mail gives the complete desktop feel without the need for software installation. Gmail offers a clean, crisp and deliciously fast interface. And Hotmail offers ... well ... uh ... a pretty sweet name.
Be the first to comment on this article!