I just tossed out a new poll. I’ve been wanting to do this one for a while, and the short-but-global GMail outage yesterday confirmed now is a good time. The question is:
How Do You Email?
There are people that like to do the cloud thing, and there are people who like to roll their own email. Then of course there are combinations therein. I find this interesting not just because of the variety of methods, but because of how strongly people feel that their method is the best way to go.
I have my opinions, but I’ll wait until after the poll to share. Poll is in the sidebar as usual.
These are the different options as I see it:
Pure Cloud
This is when you use a service like GMail, Yahoo, or Hotmail (many more) and have an address like “[email protected]”. You use the Browser to access it.
Localized Cloud
This is when you use a service like GMail, but you don’t like using the Browser to do email, so you set up a local Email client (e.g. Thunderbird) to use your GMail account.
Pure Local
This is the pure roll-your-own variety. You own your domain names, they reside and servers that run their own mail servers. You check your email through local Email clients that talk to those servers. If you are just a “I use whatever my work or school gives me”, you are probably in this boat.
Clouded Local
This is when you have your own domains with your own mail servers, but you like the browser based email experience so you set up GMail to use your own servers. You would also be in this came if your work or school has it’s own email system but it’s browser based.
Pure Local – my favorite for desktop and mobile devices
Good question Chris. I like and use the GMail client, but I recently installed the “Offline” GMail Labs option that puts Google Gears on my local drive and basically backs up the last year (by default) of messages and attachments (optional). I haven’t had to use it offline, but it supposedly lets me read, compose, etc and will sync up the next time I have Internet access or GMail comes back up. I happened to not notice yesterday’s outage of GMail. Thanks for the site!
Clouded Local for work. Gmail now sends email using [email protected], and the recipient never knows i’m using Gmail.
I too use google apps and host my company email using gmail. The only issue I had was having an html signature which was resolved by using
Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures v1.11.12.
One big issue that still remains however is email receipts, any free services out their that anyone can recommend?
Thanks
Jonathan
If you are using the paid version of Google Apps for Business, you can enable read receipts in the admin interface. I’d note that when I did this, it did take about 24 hours for the option to actually become available inside my Gmail compose window so you might have to be a bit patient.
(https://support.google.com/a/answer/1383374?hl=en “Google Help on Read Receipts”)
clouded local (same as Johnb)
I am in transition between Pure Local and Clouded Local. I check my email on gmail, but also keep a local copy in Outlook. If I could import all of my old emails into gmail I might be full Clouded Local.
btw, has anyone ever emailed [email protected] ?
Nope, but I bet a lot of people will now!
Pure Cloud for home
Pure cloud. I don’t know the details. I don’t wanna know them.
Pure Cloud.. i use Chrome’s ‘application shortcut’ feature for quick access to Gmail.
hm… one thing is missing i believe (or maybe I am the only one to do so?):
a Localized Cloud / pure local mix!
I use gmail and aim, but also my own set up mails. that makes 4 mail accounts i use in apple mail.
since this opinion is missing i cant take part in the poll. sad :-( (but you can still add it, can you ^-^)
I use Gmail in the browser mostly, But I also use Thunderbird set up to get mail but leave on server. When I get email that is important I fire up TBird and let it download and then store it in a appropriate folder, Thus I have a local copy as well as what is on Gmail servers. My thoughts behind this…. if Gmail ever loses my stuff, I have a back up of the important stuff. call me paranoid!
This also has the benefit of being able to access your email via your local app on a laptop that is disconnected from the internet. Obviously responding would be delayed, but for emails that contain important information for you to act on without the need or even possibility of a connection you can still access them.
Well I have not taken the poll, as simply I use probably all methods…..
let me explain,
years ago, I always had hotmail, yahoo, gmail with ikthius as the username… quite simply who else has ikthius???
but I have also used my email from my [email protected] and I now have my own small business and have my own business email, @honeycomb-web.co.uk & club email @woskf.co.uk
so I use the browser for the browser based emails:- hotmail, yahoo, gmail
& use my thunderbird client for Main ISP & own branded website emails
I know this sounds like overkill, but it is good to have filters in your programs, well giving out my email is like filtering, my main browser based emails are for things I don’t want to hear from, and my other emails are for other things…..
a bit confusing eh?
Pure local here. Sooooo looking forward to Google Wave.
Yeah that should definitely be a good time. Hopefully it’s cool to use just for email since of course most people won’t be using it. Then get cooler as more and more do.
it looks awsome
Clouded local – GMail apps and personal domain
Pure Local
In my view it’s just a pain in the arse to have to keep logging onto web mail. I tend to use IMAP though so I can still get access to all of my GMail emails when I cannot get online on my laptop.
On top of this, though, school forces the companies running from school like erixx [erixx.co.uk] to use the internal mail system, which is fair enough as an email on our own domain looks better than a gmail or hotmail account. But even with this I run IMAP through Apple Mail.
Why? It’s easier to manage multiple accounts this way. Especially with the use of Smart Mailboxes.
Localized Cloud.
Hosted Exchange 2007 and mac mail for business. I also have a gmail account that I access through mac mail for personal. For me, the benefit is portability. I like the local client for most things, but I also like the ability to do simple tasks when away from my machine (and when I need more than just my phone).
I used to be a pure local-type email consumer. I had a Small Business Server running in my basement on a static IP. The issue, for me, was cost (static connection), time (maintain server), and reliability (power outage, tree service cut telco bundle when removing roots after bad locate, etc).
For 1/3 the price of the static IP, I get all of the exchange benefit, with none of the hassle and worry.
Pure Cloud
i use Pure Cloud email (gmail), and occasionally thunderbird, but only to collect newsletters, etc.
i love gmail`s minimalism and i`ll probably never switch to an other provider.
For my personal email, I have GMail, which I then use through Apple Mail. For my business, I have Google Apps with my own domain name, also using Apple Mail. All use IMAP though, so that if I need to I can check it in a browser. IMAP is also good with my iPhone, so I don’t have to read messages on both my Mac and iPhone like I would have to with POP.
Clouded Local here. Google Aps for my Domains/Emails!
I much prefer Apple’s Mail.app to GMail, so I use that with an email @ my domain.
So pure local.
Pure local + Localized cluoud
Pure Cloud: Gmail and Google Apps
Pure cloud except for the iPhone mail app.
I’ve been using Clouded Local with Gmail for about 5 years now.
Pure local and Localized cloud even Pure Cloud doesn’t matter that much to me a fusion is always good i leave my phone at home i access my email on the work computer or a cafe.
Click Here to check out my site
To be honest – all of them. I am running my own mail-server with my own domains and usualy access my mail with mulberry or thunderbird when I’m on one of my own machines. I also have Squirrelmail installed on the server to access it from other machines for temporary access. I also have accounts at gmail, yahoo and some others but I use them only for what I call owner-related stuff. Picassa and Blogger go to gmail (all owned by google), Flickr goes to Yahoo. And I use them for testing purposes as an IT-pro.
Sounds a little awkward, but I dont trust either google nor yahoo far enough to give them controll over my whole email-traffic. I also create a new unique address on my own server for every service I register with. If the service starts spamming or sells the address to an advertiser, I can simply remove it later.
My use has evolved from Mail.app/Thunderbird to strictly gmail web interface (with gears based offline) on my macbook, and the official gmail application on my Andriod based HTC magic. Nice to read things once, see common stars and labels as well as trash etc. Also the easy set up with zone edit to use my own domain name(s). Used to use mail.app but found I was going there less and less since I spend most of the day in a browser on some sort of web app anyhow.
Pure Local using my own domains.
I also have a single Gmail email address I use for random things which could attract random emails I don’t want to interfere with work inboxes!
I don’t understand how people can 100% rely on a service like Gmail, that they pay nothing for, and there is absolute uproar when something goes wrong.
Surely if your email/business is that important, pay for a service that is as reliable as possible and if something did go wrong you can claim some sort of compensation, ie money back due to downtime.
At all influenced by Gmail’s outage last evening?
I work purely cloud. I, for one, welcome the Google overlords.
Gmail + Own Domain through a browser since the start of 2006
I use pure cloud for freelancing and pure local on my day job at the office.
Pure cloud.
One account to many environments (work, desktop, netbook)…
Clouded Local – I use google apps for my own domain/personal correspondence, otherinbox.com for all of my ham/spam and pop3 for my @work address (Which also gets pulled into my gmail account).
Pure local with own domains with tendencies to a neurotical behaviour. I really have to look up everything with the Explorer what’s going on physically on my hard drive. I’d never trust the Apple time machine or anything else that’s telling me to not bother. When iTunes is asking me, if I want to remove an old podcast sequel from the list or to delete the file from the hard disc, I always open the folder after deletion, because every second file hasn’t been deleted though iTunes told me that it did. I’d never use Gmail, but I have a Ymail-Account for web-thing. Via POP and Outlook certainly. Maybe Prozac can help me …
Clouded Local – GApps w personal domains
Localized Cloud. Gmail combined with Thunderbird. Sometimes pure cloud when I’m on Google reader or IGoogle anyway or when I’m using another pc.
Pure Local with IMAP
Pure Cloud.
Gmail & Fastmail.
I use pure cloud for my personal/side work email. My work has pure local. I can say that I’m a much bigger fan of cloud.
I use a Localized Cloud for my email services.
I use pure cloud for my personal mail. I had to use pure local for work emails at my previous job and hated it, but now I use clouded local with Google Apps at my new workplace.
Localized cloud is the only one I have never used, but there’s no reason why I should when the browser, in my opinion, provides a better interface,
Ooo boy…this can be a bit complicated.
I prefer to use email clients than a webmail tool, but I also combine a variety of email types (Gmail, Exchange, and a few other IMAP accounts). With these I obviously can access email through Gmail.com, OWA, and other online tools.
In the end…Pure Local would be what I aim for.
Clouded Local, I just loving my name @ my own domain. Sound much more professional.
Missing option:
e) All of the above.
Seriously, why are the options mutually exclusive?
I STFW and found some polls for: how many email accounts do you have?:
Mac Polls
GeekSugar
(btw, favicon for the second link is close to this site’s.. coincidence?)
Localized cloud for personal email but fully local for work.
Webmail is fine for when I want to quickly access mail and I’m not near one of my regular computer(s). However as a day-to-day solution it seems so unproductive compared to a dedicated email application.
Guess I’m ‘Clouded Local’.
I use Google’s App Mail service to access my @danharper.me address through Gmail.
However since I don’t like accessing my email in a browser (but like the benefits of having access to it everywhere), but don’t like local email clients and love Gmail’s interface, I use a Mac app named ‘Fluid’ which basically creates a mini-web-browser to access a single site.
So Gmail now has it’s own Dock icon and _feels_ like an offline program.
Actually, I use a combination of all of these. But I lean more towards local clients, Mail.app, iPhone.
Pure Cloud (I use Gmail) and Clouded Local (Own Domain with Google Apps)
Pure cloud most definitely. I like being able to walk into random Apple stores and check my email via browsers (though you shouldn’t, but I do).
I have 5 online email’s that are all managed in gmail. Then I use thunderbird for my school email.
Pure cloud
gmail and Fluid apps (for mac) instead of Safari or Firefox
Pure Cloud. That’s it.
Pure local
Where’s the actual poll aspect of this besides just the comments?
So here’s my setup:
Guess it’s Pure Cloud, with backups in the cloud and local:
Personal domain/email hosted through GoDaddy(unlimited storage) which I use as my main email address for everything. I have it setup to CC to my main gmail account which I use as my primary email viewer. So if gmail is down I can still access my email through GoDaddy’s webmail. I also use Gmail offline (Google Gears). So then I have a copy of all email on GoDaddy and Gmail.
I then have my main gmail account setup to forward (but keep copy) to a secondary gmail account in case my main gmail account some how gets delete/hosed in any way.
I use the BlackBerry Gmail app and once I get the iPhone later this month I’m sure I’ll use the Gmail website so everything is synced up.
Nevermind about the poll, I completely missed it in the sidebar. Sorry.
Pure Cloud and Localized Cloud. We never know. Maybe one day Gmail will break for ever :)
I tend to use local as my main port of call but use clouded local when im out and about.
I’m still not convinced that keeping your world in a cloud is all that sensible – cos one day it might just get blown away!
I use pure cloud. I’ve used GMail with thunderbird and Mail, and I hated having to open another application just to say, confirm an account.
I find it so much easier to just open another tab in Safari quickly confirm, and get right back to what I was doing.
I use a combination of localized could and local. I have a gmail account with my name and my business email accounts that all end in my domain name. To check all my mail I use the Mail app that comes with OS X. It is so much nicer than checking gmail every thirty minutes!
As a semi-related question, what do you use for email marketing campaign? I am moving towards mail chimp but is their another way?
I consider my self Pure cloud, and Localized Cloud
I use Google Apps (Premier Edition) for my email. I’ve got a personalized domain and the benefits/ power of Gmail.
To access email I use the Outlook and the “Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook” – it syncs my email, contacts and calendar between Outlook and Gmail. Works like a charm. I’ve also got my iPhone setup to use Google Sync for contacts and calendar and access my email using IMAP. The only time I fire up the browser-based access to email is when I need to do a search.
This solution works great for me. Anything I do on any device is synchronized everywhere.
I use outlook on a daily basis, but when way I use the cloud. I displike having to get on the web to get my mail. Its nice to have there however
Lewis
I use localized cloud for my own e-mail addresses (personal and business) but pure cloud GMail for my school-related info.
It’s so much easier to manage my different e-mails all in one program, Thunderbird. I aim for the localized cloud.
Clouded Local although I will have local programs (digsby, mailplane, google notifier) give me notifications. I rarely go to the gmail website to actually check if I have mail, but each of these programs will launch the browser to read full emails or craft responses.
Localized Cloud :)
Pure local.
Thunderbird + own domain + mail server & IMAP iz teh way for me.
Mix of Pure Local and Clouded Local. We have a web-based interface, but everybody is free to use their own POP/IMAP client.
Localized Cloud.
I use this for my personal email, my company and I also converted two of my customers to using Google Apps… For the companies I helped some people use the webclient (which rocks btw) and the I had Mail, Outlook, iphones, blakcberries, thunderbird and more..
I like the FULL ON iPhone experience with MobileMe. I know, mac nerd here!
I have the generic email addresses of my own domains (info@…) forwarding to my me.com address. I find that I email on my iPhone about equal to my time spent in Mail on my mac.
BUT! When Google Wave goes live I may be seriously reconsidering!
Personal – Pure cloud (gmail)
Work – Pure Local
Somewhere between “Pure Cloud” and “Localized Cloud”
I was pure cloud (gmail), as I have various machines I might use at any given time and this way don’t fuss with e-mail clients on each device.
That was until I bought a Palm Pre. Now I do most of my e-mail reading on my phone, type shorter ones on my phone was well (not in the browser but the Pre’s e-mail client), and longer e-mails I’ll write using a browser on a desktop machine.
Definitely a fan of the cloud, either way.
Pure Cloud.
Gmail + Gmail Manager Firefox addon.
Pure Local at work but the account can be checked online from a browser.
well till now I’ve used and still using Localized Cloud i hate email in browser gets dirty :)) but soon i’ll move on to Pure Local
All except for Localized Cloud.
Localized Cloud with my own domain set up with Google Apps.
Clouded Local
I like the freedom of always having the same email address but easily move between readers/servers.
For freelance I use gmail, but at my day job we use rackspace mail, which is really good too.
Localized Cloud + Pure Local
Google Apps – Clouded Local. Even my clients like it that way.
I use the Cloud Deferred Backup system: People email me at [email protected], which is handled like this:
1. One copy of that email is retained on my paid shared server for 2 months.
2. Another copy of that email is also sent to Gmail, which I primarily use.
In the event that Gmail goes down, people can still email me, and I can send, receive, and check email (I used Pine). And this is exactly what I did when Gmail went down: worked beautifully.
I’m pure local. sends to my computer and my Blackberry from my server.
Pure Local – for the rare exception, that i cannot access my emails with a not web based email-cliet I’ve the terrific Open Source Webmailclient Roundcube installed on my server.
Clouded local and Pure Cloud. Usually I prefer to use my Gmail account for posting in the web. Only when dealing with business partners I use my own domain name.
I recently switched to pure cloud. Only because I didn’t see the need to set up an email client on my new machine.
The only downside to this is that if I click on a mailto link then it tries to open outlook on my computer. That’s a bit of a pain but there’s probably a workaround.
GMail with app :)
Very good question.
I use clouded local for all work based related stuff. I like being able to access my mail on different computers and as I travel alot that’s kind of usefull. I have my own domain based email but use gmail
and I use pure cloud for other things, also gmail.
mmm, we have our own domainname
I pop3 it trough gmail
then I imap gmail in thunderbird for when I’m at work
on the road or at home I use gmail.
Don’t like the webmail client installed on the server…
For my private mail I use pure Gmail but imap it in thunderbird at work.
Of course I read both on the iPhone in the mail app through imap.
But of course everything is going to change with google wave in october… (I hope)
Pure Cloud
Pure Local. :)
Pure Local.
Personal account @ Gmail.
Business accounts on my website.
All are IMAPed to Apple mail.
That way I see all incoming mail, presorted by origin. Using Smart Folders then automatically sorts client correspondence. Additional Smart Folders include [Queries] and [Quotes]. I’ll add the bracketed words in subject line when I reply and email will then be sorted to Smart Folder.
Pure local but also have a gmail account that I retrieve locally in addition to my domain name based accounts.
Why didn’t you allow people to chose two, or to rank their choices? I equally use the Pure Cloud and Pure Local.
There is nothing better than Outlook on home computer. Thunderbird does not know to encode other languages (though pretend it does:))), for gmail, yahoo and email accounts from domain names I simply have no patience (each time to log in, log out, password, username.. too much actions to check emails). At work I need to be concentrated on work and not on personal emails, so the best time to send or answer emails is in the evening, at home and from old kind Outlook which encodes other languages, loads images without asking etc etc
I view almost all my email from the Mac Mail app on my G5. I have an email account from my personal site that I rarely use because the address got hacked (how do they do that?) So I am using my Yahoo! and gmail accounts because I believe they are best at control the spam.
I do have one cloud account that I use for subscriptions, etc. And I also view my mail on my iPod Touch.
I use pure local as my main account.
However I use a Pure Cloud for hrml based mail.
I actually use a combination of Pure Cloud and Pure Local. My Gmail account is pure cloud. I have had this account for many years and have just grown accustom to it’s interface. This is also kind of my “Home Base” for personal emails.
All other email addresses I have, all business related funny enough, I run through my Mac mail.
I’m Pure Cloud for my personal email, gmail either in browser or from my phone. Work is Pure Local, which is a pain in the arse – I can’t stand Outlook anymore.
I am absolutely a firm believer in using the cloud…purely the cloud! I have 3 macs and an iPhone and with google they all stay perfectly in sync… no mobile me for me because google is free!
Localized Cloud, but soon it will be a Clouded Local – Localized Cloud hybrid (using my domain/server, with Google apps, then using POP). Is that a thing?
Clouded Local gives the flexibility of being able to check your email anywhere but without having to use lame domains for your email address. Gmail would have to be an exception just because it is short and fairly popular and for some reason seems less “convoluted” as Yahoo. Plus it’s free!
Pure local via Mac and Apple Mail for work. For anything in cyberspace Localized Cloud in an attempt to keep the spam down on my work address.
Ciao
I’ve my own domain name and e-mail arrives both at Gmail (browser, cloud) as in Thunderbird (local).
localized cloud for personal & clouded local for school
Fascinating how many variations there are on the main options. I like how people are combining the different types for their particular needs.
I work for a small ISP and mostly use IMAP email at my own domain, which they host. I can access it in a webmail interface when I need to, but mostly I use Mac OS X Mail or Mail on my iPod Touch.
Clouded Local.
My own domain and accessable everywhere with Gmail.
Pure local.
Pure Cloud (:
In theory– pure local. I use my own domain and the ISP’s mail server. I set to IMAP and use Thunderbird 90% of the time.
But that’s just the theory.
My Thunderbird also aggregates what was originally another pure local email (old one using ISP domain rather than my own domain) as well as my Gmail that I mostly use for opt-in subscriptions and news.
Another BUT–
I have also set up RoundCube so that I can access my “supposedly local” email from web; my former main account with the ISP provides access through Yahoo, and of course Gmail can always be accessed from web.
I take a “local” approach as much as possible, but have web-based options.
Pure Cloud – Google Apps!
Pure Local at Work.
Pure Cloud at Home.
Yea, I prefer the professionalism of using my own domain name. I wish I could automatically back it up on a cloud somewhere so multiple computers can have the same records of sent emails, etc… but backing up my application info regularly is working fine for me.
Pure Local – Thunderbird.
Hi chris,
This would be an awesome screencast topic don’t you think: how to make a poll on your website. Keep up the awesome work!
Pure Cloud: Google Apps. Been the best decision we have made in terms of productivity.
None of the options…
I use my own domain and my own web application. Makes it possible to add features that I like and I’m always in control of my e-mail.
Clouded local
Pure local all the way.
Pure cloud. Guess I’m behind the time. :(
I use the Pure Cloud just cause it gives me the satisfaction that my mails are going to be well backed up :)
All local accounts are consolidated into gmail right now. Using Google gears for local backup. I did not feel the outage at all. So I guess the answer would be clouded local.
Pure Local + Clouded Local (only when necessary)
Pure cloud + one more category i wud add, (i donno if its necessary) use local email servers but use thunderbird client…….
I use the localized cloud, using Postbox (based on Thunderbird but looks a lot nicer in OS X). I used to use the pure local, but then my host locked my account, rendering the email unusable. Even though I have more reliable hosting from (mt) now, I’d rather use a service like GMail, which is a lot more reliable. Sure, there’s the “gee-whiz!” effect of having a unique @domain.com email, but I feel it’s not worth the trouble.
I’ve tried but I can’t handle email in a webbrowser. It really breaks my work paradigm. When I am done with a task I close the tabs/browser and then go to check my mail only to find that the browser mail window has just been closed.
Or the first thing I do is hit alt-tab to check my mail even though the email page is SOMEWHERE within my 20 open tabs.
Email clients are the only way to go.
AND why would I want to give Google access to all my information. It may be a great “app”, but it is not for me on various levels.
(so I use pure local)
I guess, I’m somewhere on the Pure Local / Clouded Local area. For me it’s important to use a mail service that is controlled by me/company. However, there are times when a cloud approach would be beneficial. For me it’s not Gmail – due to some portion of received email not having a correct subject, emails often get threaded the wrong way.
Localized Cloud for Gmail,
ISP provided address,
and my own domain name address.
(depending on the purpose ie. business, private, subscribe)
It all comes to my inbox on Thunderbird.
Pure Local