GMail is an excellent service. I use it (through Google Apps) for all my email.
It’s fast, efficient, scans attachments for viruses before I ever download them, is accessible from any computer, and has a wonderful spam filter.
It syncs with my Blackberry, as does Google Calendar, and doesn’t hog resources the way Outlook does. I can us GMail while compiling a video or working on a website with no loss of speed on my computer. With Outlook I experience a noticeable loss of speed.
If my computer is down for maintenance or repair, I can still access my email. If my computer crashes, I can still access my email.
That being said, I find that Outlook is a wonderful program for backing up my GMail to my computer. Utilized over night, it doesn’t interfere with my work by hogging resources during the day, and because GMail supports IMAP, I can sync my GMail accounts with Outlook for peace of mind in case Google ever goes bankrupt.
OK, thanks gentlemen. I’ll try it out.