I spend a lot of my free time surfing the internet and almost half of my income comes from here. That means I’ve got a lot of contacts, but little time to IM anyone. I tend to use email a lot, even when I’m on the road.
I used to be an Outlook Express user until 2004. I was new to the whole security thing back then and frankly didn’t care whether my inbox is safe or not.
My next e-mail client was Thunderbird. I’m sure lots of you also use Outlook, Spicebird or something similar for managing your everyday tasks. Well, the opensource alternative was fine and all, but there was a big problem involved.
With webmail, your e-mail stays on the server. E-mail clients, on the other hand (if you don’t specifically tell them), ‘pull’ your mail onto the computer.
And while this may be an advantage for offline reading: what happens if you (my case here) have 3 computers and 5 operating systems?
Ease of access is the keyword here, I suppose. With my Gmail, I have all the functionality I need, and more. It’s always there, and if I get some important mail I can easily archive it or forward it, thus increasing my web productivity.
If you liked what I said and want to jump n the bandwagon, simply sign up for some webmail space: Gmail or Yahoo!Mail will suffice, but you also have Hotmail, Inbox and Spymac.
Do you use webmail? Why (not)? Tell us!
February 1st, 2008 at 00:14
Hi Greg.
I have to say, that you do have a point there.
Since everybody has almost all the time PC’s/Mac’s connected to the internet, there is no need for e-mail clients.
Well, i still use one. Thunderbird FTW! That’s for sure. Managing multiple mail accounts is one main advantage of clients. And although, many providers tend to have an option of getting mail from other “mail-providers”, i don0t use it.
E-mail clients offer a much more personal level of interaction with incoming mail. Not to mention dealing with attachments.
In the end, everybody uses what is the best for them.
P.S.
I also have 3 PC’s and i use only one of them for my e-mail.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:18
I use mainly Gmail because of its easy-to-use on company computer and it works fine on all OS (Wimp, Win2000 and OSX).
-sv3
February 1st, 2008 at 12:35
Yeah. Ajax is a bit on the clunky side.
March 22nd, 2008 at 23:45
Enable imap in your g-mail account and configure the gmail imap settings in thunderbird and you have something far better (imap basicaly continuously syncs thunderbird with your webmail).
Also using a desktop client such as thunderbird is a lot more responsive than using a browser and you can use it offline which comes in handy on the road.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:40
I guess you’ve not heard of IMAP? it’s not 1992 any more. Silly boy.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:50
even I find webmails better
although for some desktop based are good