It might be instructive if you included why you are trying to avoid Gmail in your OP, so we can avoid suggesting other apps that might have the same issues. For example, do you dislike it because of privacy concerns? Or because it's a web app? Etc.
I think the Gmail UI is excellent and I love it, but I'm starting to have privacy concerns.
Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
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Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#22You can just get Google Apps...since they release features for that 6-7 months after regular gmail gets them, you'll have plenty of warning if they release something like Buzz. + I doubt they'd be stupid enough to bring buzz to their business users.
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#23Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#24Try turning off spam checking on any email address that's been around the net a few years.
The upside of GMail (and other shared-services) is that you are benefiting from their collective wisdom of incoming spam landscape - they see the bigger picture from everyone's accounts in aggregate... which is why their spam filters are so much more effective than bayesian filtering -- which is the only tool you have if you 'go it alone' on email
With an email address that dates back to 1994 and listed all over Usenet before we knew it would be indexed by DejaNews/Google, I need the spam protection and so I'll always go shared-hosted (Gmail for now).
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#25I pay a small amount yearly for an account at FastMail ( http://www.fastmail.fm ) They have a very solid IMAP service, and a robust (though not Gmail-fancy) web interface. In the five years or so that I have had an account with them, I think I could total up about a half hour of downtime that I can recall, so they are very stable. I recommend them highly. (I'm not affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.)
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#26I pay a small amount yearly for an account at FastMail ( http://www.fastmail.fm ) They have a very solid IMAP service, and a robust (though not Gmail-fancy) web interface. In the five years or so that I have had an account with them, I think I could total up about a half hour of downtime that I can recall, so they are very stable. I recommend them highly. (I'm not affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.)
What about the SPAM filter?
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#27I pay a small amount yearly for an account at FastMail ( http://www.fastmail.fm ) They have a very solid IMAP service, and a robust (though not Gmail-fancy) web interface. In the five years or so that I have had an account with them, I think I could total up about a half hour of downtime that I can recall, so they are very stable. I recommend them highly. (I'm not affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.)
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#28I'm currently using sup ( http://sup.rubyforge.org/ ), which has labels and threads like Gmail, but is Free as in Freedom, runs on ncurses and, ironically, has a much better search mechanism, which was the main reason I switched from Gmail. There is also notmuch ( http://notmuchmail.org/ ), which is still alpha, but aims to be faster and more scriptable than Sup.
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#29I started doing a custom fork of RoundCube to do just this a few months back but never finished it...does anyone know of anything off-the-shelf that will do this?
Re: Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
#30I pay a small amount yearly for an account at FastMail ( http://www.fastmail.fm ) They have a very solid IMAP service, and a robust (though not Gmail-fancy) web interface. In the five years or so that I have had an account with them, I think I could total up about a half hour of downtime that I can recall, so they are very stable. I recommend them highly. (I'm not affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.)
I must be getting old or sth, but I can't find a screenshot or a test login on the site.
You can always get a free guest account to try it out. Or if you ask nicely enough, one of us who have accounts might be able to post a screenshot. ;)