You can read your gmail and yahoo mail through the Outlook.com web app or Win 10 app too.
Fast forward, Windows 8 and Windows 10. I could download my email to my pc in outlook - years worth of emails - or I could continue to read it online. I continued to read it online.
I do have a comcast email account and I use that for things that I want to see immediately since it goes to my cell phone. I can also read that on the website. No email on my pc at all. Suits me fine.