I have and use both, but Outlook >>>>>> gmail. Outlook is a full fledged feature rich application, and I can’t imagine anything better than Outlook 2007. gmail has it’s place, but in no way is it a replacement or even comes close to besting Outlook.
I am glad these online apps are starting to provide offline access though, that has been my biggest beef with the whole online cloud app paradigm. I’m still struggling with the fact that my data files actually reside out in cyber space and not on my computer though. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that, guess I’m too old school.
I never liked Outlook, just seemed like another bloated, clunky MS app. Back in the pre-webmail days I used Eudora, now I use Gmail because it’s easy to set up multiple addresses. Whenever I go to a website I know is going to spam me, or have to sign up for something I use a Gmail address that acts like a spam dumping ground. This leaves my main emails fairly clean.
From the beginning, gmail has allowed you to download all your email to Outlook or whatever email application you want on your PC. From gmail, click on Settings, and then “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”. It gives you directions on how to set up your email app to download from Gmail.