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E-mail has been free about as long as the Internet has been prevalent in society. E-mail services around are free but can be upgraded for extra features. With so many choices, which one is the best? Only a few e-mail services have separated themselves from the rest in terms of size, usability and unique features. Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo have become popular but which one of those is the best?

Google Mail, or Gmail for short separated itself, from the pack as only Google could: By offering a unique interface with features not offered anywhere else. The layout for Google Mail is not overflowing with flash banners. 2.8 gigs are given to free and the size is steadily growing every second. The "report spam" feature is a key to anyone who hates the amount of unwanted emails that flood inboxes every day. Other features include unlimited message filters, a label system, POP access, and the star system. Message filters are used to distribute e-mails to different folders or labels depending on the subject, the sender, and other settings. Most e-mail providers set up a limit of how many filters you can use unless you upgrade but Gmail has an unlimited amount of filters. The label system is a unique folder-like system that labels different types of emails in the inbox and allows access to them separately. Other e-mail providers have folders instead of this labeling system. The star system is a way to ensure that important emails are recognized and not deleted. Finally, the POP access ability is a throwback to the late 90's e-mail access. The Post Office Protocol is the primary e-mail protocol and Gmail provides this access offline for free. Yahoo and Hotmail/Windows Live only offer this access if you upgrade to a paid service. Although Gmail is very complete, there are other alternatives.

Yahoo! Mail has been the standard for free e-mail for years because of the association with the Yahoo! name. Lately, Yahoo Mail has adapted two qualities that puts them back in top contention. One of those is the Beta interface. Yahoo! had a simple basic layout for years, behind in the times with organization, filters, and folder creating. Yahoo! Mail Beta is a welcome change to the old as they incorporated new features into its established e-mail base. Filters are more complex, the layout is cleaner, and the pagination is faster to load. To counter Google Calendar's success, Yahoo! has incorporated a calendar function into Yahoo! Mail, which will please most Yahoo! users. The other feature included is the unlimited inbox space. There will no more worrying about deleting e-mails and attachments to stay under the inbox limit. However, a major drawback to Yahoo! is the upgrade that is necessary for POP access, unlimited message filters and other services that Gmail has for free.

Hotmail, or Windows Live as it is known as now, is a popular alternative to Gmail and Yahoo! as it is tied to the Microsoft name. The interface and services are standard but is popular in the international community. The inbox space is less than Yahoo and Google but it is a great 3rd choice.

All in all, Google Mail has become the #1 e-mail provider in terms of quality and unique features. However, Yahoo Mail is the most used e-mail service and has new features that may appeal to other users. Truly, it's like comparing apples to oranges to bananas. In the end, they are all fruit.

Learn more about this author, Tim Carson.
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