Yahoo Mail vs. Gmail
I’ve been using Yahoo mail, on and off, for the past nine years. For the most part, I’ve liked it … it has steadily improved in both features and storage space, it’s got a pretty good organizational structure (with filters and folders), it picks up my webeldotnet mail, and it integrates well with some of Yahoo’s other services.
Gmail, on the other hand, is something that I’ve avoided since its introduction four years ago. Here’s what I wrote about it in 2004:
I have a promotional Gmail account (I don’t think they’re available to the public yet) that I created a couple of weeks ago. I’ve never used it. But I’ve already received about 10 spams … not at my Gmail address, but at the email address I used to sign up for Gmail. Yep … they have given away the address I used to register.
Whether they intentionally sold it or had a security breach, they have violated my personal rights. How do I know it was them? I use a website called SneakEmail to monitor and control the ways companies use and distribute my email addresses. It’s foolproof … I once caught and confronted Sprint giving away my email address to spammers. And now Google is doing it. I’m highly disturbed.
I’m surprised. But the facts speak for themselves, and I wouldn’t trust Google with any personal information any more. They’re gonna have a lot of ’splainin to do before I use them for anything but general web searches again. I may even start looking for alternatives for that as well.
Needless to say, I’m now reconsidering. Recently, I’ve begun to use more and more of Google’s services … maps, calendar, Blogger, and news … on a regular basis. And I’ve re-activated my Gmail account and explored how it’s set up. The spam filtering is better, and it integrates even tighter with my webeldotnet mail.
But what’s up with the organizational structure? I’m not sure I like how you have to use labels instead of folders … it seems like it’d be really hard to stay organized after a while. And the ads seem a bit more intrusive, perhaps because the text seems to conflict with the messages or something.
So what do you use? What do you like?
April 8th, 2008 at 1:50 am EST
I have both, but I prefer Gmail - mostly because they don’t want extra $$ to use POP mail.
As good as SPAM filters have gotten these days, very little makes it through to my inboxes, so SPAMMERS are losing the battle (IMO). I actually get more JUNK snail mail than I do SPAM. ( http://stevewebel.com/2008/03/24/junk-mail/ )
April 8th, 2008 at 8:22 am EST
I have been on Yahoo mail for a LONG time and really like it. Its just simple to use, and the folder storage and spam blocking are really key for me. In the last year they “upgraded” my Yahoo mail to a new flash based app and I didn’t like it because it slowed the whole thing down and I was just so used to the old version, so I switched my account back to Yahoo mail “classic.” I probably won’t switch unless Yahoo does something really stupid to make me want to…I’m a creature of habit and simplicity I guess.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:42 am EST
oh, lance. i remember that post. and i avoided gmail like the plague. BUT.
i. heart. gmail.
the label function was slightly maddening at first, but it is SO much better. often i would be all, well, i want to put this in a folder, but it could go into two or three different ones. with gmail, you can label emails until Jesus comes back and it all works beautifully.
and conversations. CONVERSATIONS ARE AWESOME. no more coming back to 37 emails filling your inbox screen… all replies to the same email show up in ONE LINE.
i won’t even get started on gmail chat. i would MARRY IT IF I COULD.
and i prefer the text ads, because, well… they’re only text. no flashy images to slow down or distract.
plus we’re at like 6GB of storage or something? when i started it was like 4GB.
do it, lance. do it.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:02 pm EST
i agree with mdog. i remember your post back about gmail and how it sold rights. possibly…i suppose…but you are telling me that your yahoo address hasn’t been given away to the spammers? most of the people i know switch because of the amount of spam on yahoo.
labeling rocks and it will rock your socks as well. i have some emails that reference 4 or 5 labels. plus, nobody mentioned the search function. search for any word, etc…using google’s smarts…instantly all emails come up. i could go on and on…chat is nice, things change all the time in gmail (and usually for the better)…
i guess maybe there might not be enough to get somebody to SWITCH from yahoo, or what have you…but a straight up comparison, “which should i start with”…i think gmail is the winner. once you figure out the differences and eccentricities…it’s like a second relationship (or first for some people). you fall in love with it.
does yahoo have a desktop gmail alert? does it integrate into a desktop search function? things keep coming to mind. at work, i use google desktop search (notice i stress work)…but when i search for something, i am able to browse my hard drives, network drives, and emails. every one is customizable…not to mention if you *want* you can have it search other computers, say your home etc…the functions all integrate really well. i don’t use or recommend them all, but they are available.
let me know what you choose…
April 8th, 2008 at 4:10 pm EST
I’m going to have to agree about gmail. I thought twice about it when you posted the blog. But I’ve been using it for two years now, and I love it! My spam is nowhere near as bad as with my Hotmail account. And I too love the conversation feature, and labeling, and gmail chat, and the handy dandy toolbar notification, and igoogle notification… I love gmail! I love google! Their features are so convenient and they usually offer options that you just can’t find elsewhere. I definitely suggest it!
April 8th, 2008 at 6:03 pm EST
reading this is starting to make me feel like an old fogey who once scared his little brother into thinking he had crashed the Mac Plus by creating a fake Startup Screen with a “sad mac face” on it…
is this post a blatant attempt at generating traffic from “hither and yon”???
April 8th, 2008 at 10:18 pm EST
Thats it, im switching to gmail, i need something new
April 8th, 2008 at 10:48 pm EST
Thunderbird + GMail + POP3 = Love
And seriously… conversations in GMail ROCK! I officially stopped using my Yahoo! account when everything but the annoying ads stopped working in the Firefox 3 Betas. I’m on Beta5 now, and I think Yahoo! got their FireFox act together, but I’m not going back.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:53 pm EST
oh by the way. i have never received spam at my gmail address. granted, i heart sneakemail and use it regularly as well… but never. not once. ever. no spam. my friends do not believe me, but there you go.
and yes. the search function. so wonderful and obvious.
lance. you will love it.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:58 am EST
Don’t forget, there’s always the looming takeover by Microsoft to make you feel warm and fuzzy about Yahoo!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:15 am EST
If M$ takes over Yahoo and decides to change their mail site, I will likely change. As a Mac user, I find most things M$ to be reprehensible. But I’m not so sure I could switch to Gmail either:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=558177&in_page_id=1770
April 9th, 2008 at 10:09 am EST
this might seem like an odd comment from me, but i feel a bit like a mac user. i don’t care if everybody else uses something else (yahoo) and feels like it is better. they don’t know what they are missing. i don’t need to convince them.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am EST
now, this is funny. i just SNAPPED this morning because someone was once again singing the praises of mac - which is really fine, i don’t care - BUT they were also trying to convert me. which happens all. the. time. it’s REALLY annoying. it actually makes me want to become violent.
i think there is a difference in that gmail is FREE and not overpriced like a mofo for your basic computer user… but i agree, i feel a bit like a gmail cultist on this post.
i don’t want to be One Of Those People. so, just know that i
April 9th, 2008 at 10:31 am EST
ahhhhh looks like webeldotnet doesn’t like my [less than sign + 3} heart.
anyway, as i was saying, just know that i heart gmail and i’ll leave it at that.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pm EST
HP, does that link you included represent your main objection to switching to Gmail?
If so, do you REALLY believe Yahoo! is any better, morally speaking?
April 9th, 2008 at 3:01 pm EST
steve - no.
and i must claim ignorance as to whether Gmail is better or not because i’ve never TRIED it. (unlike most people who are stuck on PeeCees and haven’t even TRIED a mac recently but still want to blast them.) i think my main objection is just complacency with the technology i have been using for something like 10 yrs or so (sounds like a bad excuse from a typical IT dept, i know). i am used to it and it does what i need very well, i see no reason to “upgrade.” i am sure that Gmail is better technologically (despite the article i posted above, i DO use google apps such as GoogleDocs and GoogleMaps a LOT). its just that to me its EMAIL, why make it into such a fance schmancy thing??? why make everybody learn a new email address for me, just so i can have a bunch of features i dont’ think i’ll use? but maybe i shouldn’t be so closed minded about it (i do hate it when PeeCee people are like that…). maybe when i get some free time i’ll open an account and check it out to see if i want to switch…. esp considering all the people on this post who are trying to “convert” me.
April 9th, 2008 at 3:06 pm EST
er, i don’t know you or your humor. is that directed at me?
April 9th, 2008 at 3:35 pm EST
My mother’s Yahoo account has been giving her trouble when she tries to send mail. It sometimes takes a few days for the recipient to actually get the email. It really annoys the quail out of her
and is really funny when something goes wrong.
And she has a Mac…
April 9th, 2008 at 9:38 pm EST
it wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, except maybe myself… as a Mac user i have known so many PC users who would rather stick their head in the sand and use an inferior product than to make a simple switch, and i found myself wanting to do the same thing by sticking with Yahoo mail even though the postings here were clearly saying Gmail is better.
so its fairly hypocritical of me to refuse to try Gmail on one hand, then turn around and blast PC users for their lack using a mac.
(not that i do that anymore. i used to do it, but i have SO outgrown that. if people choose to use M$ products, its their loss and none of my business, other than the fact that i am forced to use them in the biz world and it hampers my productivity (IMO) on a daily basis.)
oh, and i dont think my comment was particularly humorous. maybe a touch of irony in there? dunno. and believe me, at the ripe old age of, well… a ripe old age… i certainly am not interested in some Mac versus PC argument on a blog site. besides, i have heard that Google is working on an internet based OS that will blow away the PC and the Mac in the future anyhow…
April 9th, 2008 at 9:39 pm EST
annoys the quail out of her???
April 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm EST
HP, I don’t know if Gmail is THAT much better unless you utilize certain features.
For me, that feature is POP mail, which allows me to download my mail into Entourage or Mail. That way I don’t have to check my mail online. (I can still do so if I choose, but I don’t HAVE to.)
Yahoo still charges for this functionality, as far as I know.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:52 am EST
I’m so archaic I have never used “Mail,” despite being told by several that its a pretty good program… Sad, I know.
April 12th, 2008 at 12:05 am EST
i always hoped people were filled with animals. It would make life much more entertaining.
“Bro Joe scared the bejeebering rabbits out of mum again.”
Lively parties one could throw with that, truth be told.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:37 pm EST
hi! thanks for responding to my xanga post. a couple of things. 1) i LOVE gmail. love it. love it. love it. and i’ve had the same e-mail address for a few years now and i still, somehow, get very little spam (maybe 2-3 a day? that’s like nothing from what i used to get using other options!). and secondly, i like your response to the whole questionable book your child would be reading at school. sadly, a girl in my class was taken out of my class for the unit and given a self-study unit. in place of our current text, i chose to have her read a chinese cultural revolution historical fiction that has to do with the detrimental consequences of taking books away from teenagers. muwahahahha.
April 13th, 2008 at 11:35 pm EST
Oh, smack. Warping young minds … that’s what it’s all about.
Welcome to my website as well, Jenn. Kick off your shoes and stay a while.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:37 am EST
I feel rather behind…. I’ve been using the same Hotmail address for about 8 years. Maybe I should try something new as well.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:31 pm EST
Wait, don’t dump HotMail yet!
I heard HotMail was making a comeback… of course, I heard it from a Micro$oft PR person.
Seriously, I don’t think there is a ‘definitive’ best Email provider, much of it depends on how YOU use Email. Having said that, I don’t think HotMail makes anyone’s list of top Email providers.