A system is a set of methodologies and procedures that are strategically combined together for the purpose of achieving a particular goal or endeavour at hand. Without a good system, a project or even the simplest task will never achieve its desired end result. Furthermore, to act without a system will be similar to going into a battle without a plan or in another context - to construct a skyscraper without knowing the blueprint. The importance of an email system today has skyrocketed due to the widespread use of email technology, not to mention the explosion of email marketing where businesses are competing for ad space and the highly coveted attention of its customers. As to the question regarding what is really the best email system available today, it really depends on the user. Factors such as usability, functionality, safety, and reliability are among the most essential factors when considering how to choose a great email system.
Gmail
Many consider Googles very own email system to be currently the best in terms of functionality and reliability. And its not a surprise! The U.S. based media company CNET ranks Gmail as the champion of all email systems this year. It appears that all the dragging and dropping in Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail are already considered a thing of the past. Gmails cool automatic labelling options combined with its integration with Google Calendar, Chat, Maps and Google Docs make it the ideal and almost-perfect email service up to date. CNET believes that Gmail is the first email system that was developed solely for the web. Other cool features include the spam filter that automatically filters email that have been branded as spam, message threads that automatically bundles all related messages, larger storage space, and multiple tags.
Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail is another free web email system that was created by Yahoo! in 1997. But being old has its disadvantages age being one of them. Although Yahoo! Mail has implemented a lot of upgrades lately, it remains a struggle to keep the very people that worshipped the Yahoo! Mail a few years ago from experimenting with the newer competing email services. Yahoo! Mail currently has three different versions traditional Yahoo! Mail Classic, the drag and drop Yahoo! Mail that is integrated with Ajax, and the newly released 2010 beta version of Yahoo! Mail that comes with Facebook integration and Yahoo! Messenger.
Windows Live Hotmail
Formerly known as MSN Hotmail, Hotmail remains a favorite among many email users. It is a free email system released by Microsoft in 1996 and since its day of founding, Hotmail has received numerous updates including Ajax technology, Windows Live Messenger integration, Hotmail Calendar, SkyDrive, Contacts, patented security measures and unlimited storage capacity. According to the Internet research company comScore, Hotmail is the worlds largest web-based email system with an estimated number of 364 million users. Thats a huge number compared to Yahoo! Mails 280 million and the 191 million users of Gmail. Some interesting features that Hotmail offers are office web apps integration, conversation threading, active view option, the use of aliases, quick views and one-click filters and domain address registration.