# Gmail vs Hotmail vs Yahoo **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 15, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843 "2006-05-15T16:24:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/21 "2006-05-15T18:15:12Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I have a 10 MB limit on my Gmail! I know because I send large size digital pictures all the time and was only blocked from sending like 10 at a time. Check your settings. It will actually send larger files if it is in a good mood. I sent some 13MB files (before upload) last week Yahoo wouldn’t accept them though, said they were too big for the inbox (which had been cleared in advance) other gmail accounts accepted them without complaint. I use gmail with Firefox, Opera, Maxthon and Netscape. All appear to be equally happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/22 "2006-05-15T18:33:39Z")
I think gmail is the Lord God King of all webmail services, but yesterday I came across a very strange little glitch while sending some (gloriously huge) files, gmail-to-gmail. They went fine, but with a little quirk: [This is how the message previews](http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/3850/gmailglitch10aj.jpg). Take a look at the thumbnail for “sb3.jpg.” It doesn’t look out of place _at all,_ but it’s seriously twilight zone. If you click it, it’ll download the [actual picture](http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/6734/sb3small0eo.jpg) that I attached, so everything’s peachy. …but the thumbnail is a picture I’ve never seen before. _A different picture of the same person._ It didn’t come from my camera, and I _know_ that it didn’t come from my computer, because immediately before I sent it I’d replaced my hard drive with a brand spankin’ new one and did a clean install of XP. Hadn’t even gotten around to installing all my software. So gmail is obviously showing me a thumbnail that is somehow associated with _her_ gmail account. WTF? _Très étrange._ Weird little glitch or not, yesterday (quite coincidentally) she and I had a longish, nerdy gush about how fricking awesome gmail is. (She’s a recent convert.) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/23 "2006-05-15T18:43:55Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > What she said. In fact, when I asked, **Anaamika** was my invite to gmail. I asked how she liked it, and got essentially this same speech, in e-mail form. I’ve been using it a little while, and am constantly finding new, very cool things to play with. > > And now, today I find the calendar. I may never get back to work… Sorry :looks sheepish: But it really is that good. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/24 "2006-05-15T20:42:29Z")
I like both Gmail and Yahoo, I’ve had no significant problems with either. Hotmail’s interface sucks, but the new “live” interface will likely be an improvement. It pretty much has to be! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/25 "2006-05-15T21:11:37Z")
I’m with **Anaamika**. I maintain all three, Yahoo and Hotmail for historical purposes, and Gmail is the King of the Jungle by a long, long chalk. It’s intuitive, uses the new Ajax technologies, and the archive/search is pure genius. The calendar is fantastic too, as is its integration with mail. There’s also inline chat, which is a fantastic bonus. I hate to open the others, but I have to about once a week. The Hotmail interface sucks rotten bananas, and Yahoo is a steaming pile of doggy doo. They were good in 1996 but they haven’t improved much over the years. One thing that makes me sigh is a mail I got from Hotmail customer services in 2000 or something: “We’re responding to your requests! You’ve asked to go straight to your inbox, so now you do.” This lasted 6 months and then went back to that stupid MSN page after login. Yahoo’s no better - my viewing preferences never stick, and I’ve been unable to change my password from the ridiculously long one I was issued with when I first signed up. Rubbish. I am also highly skeptical about the quality of their proposed Ajax interfaces, but you never know. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/26 "2006-05-15T22:32:25Z")
I’m still with Yahoo. I worry a bit about how much power and information Google might end up with, so I don’t want them to also have access to my private emails. It’s too much for one company. I know most of it is public anyway, but they also apparently have records of all my Google searches, and they might still have a few things that I’ve had them remove from their public archives. ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/27 "2006-05-16T03:02:55Z")
I now use gmail for one main reason: Speed. It is many times faster than any competitor. The only thing I could wish for is to have groups (to send one email to multiple people easily) and filters (to filter out mail containing special words). It may have those features and I’m not looking hard enough. They do seem to add features weekly. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/28 "2006-05-16T03:12:57Z")
> [@aeropl](#): > > I now use gmail for one main reason: Speed. It is many times faster than any competitor. The only thing I could wish for is to have groups (to send one email to multiple people easily) and filters (to filter out mail containing special words). It may have those features and I’m not looking hard enough. They do seem to add features weekly. In your gmail inbox, click “Contacts.” On that screen, there’s a drop down box. Mine gives “New group …” as one of the options. Click “Settings” at the top of the screen. Click “Filters” at the top. You can filter by the TO and FROM addresses, words in the subject line, and words in or NOT in the body. Once you’ve picked the emails that would trigger the filter, you can tell gmail to archive it directly (bypass the inbox), star it, apply a label, forward it or delete it. ---
**Author:** ![RCGDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@RCGDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RCGDC)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/29 "2006-05-16T05:40:36Z")
I would say Hotmail, does in all work the best IF and only IF you have high speed. If you have dial up just forget about Hotmail all together. I like my gmail, but I notice the search function doesn’t work. I search for email addys which I cut and paste and they do not come up when I search. The lack of foldes is the worst part Here’s the best piece of advice Go to [www.popppeeper.com](http://www.popppeeper.com) It is a free email reader, it can use pop mail and it also does webmail like Hotmail and Yahoo. It is 100% free it is the greatest email checker you’ll find. You can have multiple accounts, You can set them to check gmail every 5 minutes. Yahoo every 10 mintues. It doesn’t matter. Great program you can send and reply. It’s not a full functioning email client though. For instance to though you can read, delete and view attachment of webmail like Hotmail and Yahoo, you can’t send attachment thru Poppeeper. Only thru pop mail. It’s great, you’ll love it, it’s quick and free. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/30 "2006-05-16T06:04:07Z")
> [@RCGDC](#): > > I like my gmail, but I notice the search function doesn’t work. I search for email addys which I cut and paste and they do not come up when I search. Maybe you should report it as a bug. Personally I’ve never noticed any problems with the search function on gMail. It’s more powerful and faster than the one on Yahoo. > [@](#): > > The lack of foldes is the worst part Gmail now has “labels” which can be used like folders, but are more flexible. It also has filters now. For example, you can set up a filter to catch all messages from a particular mailing list, apply a label to them, and archive them automatically (so they don’t show up in the inbox as a new message). And each message can have multiple labels; you can also tag all messages from Bob, and if Bob writes to the mailing list, that message would show up under both labels. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/31 "2006-05-16T06:30:11Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > So gmail is obviously showing me a thumbnail that is somehow associated with _her_ gmail account. WTF? _Très étrange._ Maybe it’s related to the new [Gmail pictures](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=38354) feature. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spacedog/32/9932_2.png) [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/32 "2006-05-16T11:11:06Z")
> [@seoulsoul](#): > > I have not. I have an explorer browser. Can you recommend something else? I tried Moxilla (though not with this particular problem) but the download had some problems with my system. I dunno what version you tried, you could try the latest version of [FireFox](http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/) or [Opera](http://www.opera.com/). Also you could try clearing your browsers cache (instructions [here](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8840&query=cache&topic=0&type=f)). which seems to be recommended if you’re having problems. Making sure you have the latest patches to Windows/IE couldn’t help either. Hope the helps. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/33 "2006-05-16T18:10:02Z")
> [@RCGDC](#): > > The lack of foldes is the worst part Gmail does have folders, but they’re not called by that name, and there’s no folder icon, but there are folders all the same. They’re called “Labels”. Choose a mail using the checkbox, then go to the “More actions…” dropdown, and choose “New label”. You can then use your new label to categorize other stuff; add as many labels as you want. Then you can archive the mails, and go to the “labels” menu on the left to retrieve them. It’s not immediately obvious, but it works exceptionally well. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/34 "2006-05-16T19:53:09Z")
I have used **fastmail** for about a year now and am quite happy with it. I however, use their premium $40/year service (they do have free services too). Lots of space for email (2GB), webstorage space (1GB) for general file storage and/or webpages, virus/spam filtering. And one of my favourite features, many available aliases for your email address and website address. I have’nt tried sending attachments over 5MB, but that size was sent just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/35 "2006-05-16T21:05:50Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Maybe it’s related to the new [Gmail pictures](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=38354) feature. Indeed it was. (And it seems to have been cleared up, now.) Speaking of that new feature (which is kind of nifty,) I upgraded my computer this week and am now making proper use of Google Talk. I didn’t really think I could get more impressed with Gmail, but having the IM integrated with it is awesome. I never run any of the usual IM proggies because their design bugs me. It’s like they’re meant to appeal to eleven-year-olds. I know it’s silly, but having them running makes me feel lame. Who knew that all it needed was Google’s no-bullshit aesthetic? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/36 "2006-05-16T21:10:05Z")
Inspired by this thread, I just tried Yahoo’s new beta Ajax interface. They’ve put a lot of work into making it do what it should have been doing five years ago in plain HTML, and come up with something that isn’t as good as Gmail, so no thanks. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/37 "2006-05-16T22:36:16Z")
Opinions are best looked for in IMHO, which is where we’ll put this one. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/38 "2006-05-16T23:42:17Z")
I don’t know if Yahoo or Hotmail have something comparable, but I love my [GMail Drive.](http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm) ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/39 "2006-05-17T03:51:36Z")
Another Gmail devotee here. I think my favorite feature of Gmail, day-to-day, is that it groups e-mails into “conversations.” No more having your inbox get cluttered up because you write back and forth with someone all day! Hooray! The 2GB storage and labels are fantastic too. Labels are exactly like “folders,” except that _you can assign a conversation to multiple labels_. Fantastic. I also use the “save draft” feature to keep reminder notes for myself, for example if I’m at work and want to remind myself of something later. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843/40 "2006-05-17T15:03:21Z")
Love gmail as well. Nobody’s mentioned how good their spam filtering is yet. I haven’t seen spam in months! And this is the address I use for all kinds of web registrations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-vs-hotmail-vs-yahoo/356843.md?page=3)