The Gmail thing is quite a phenomenon. Every blog I read, and message board I visit, has a gaggle of people who are desperately trying to get rid of them. It's almost as if people beleive that they have to get rid of them or their account gets shut down. (Note: I'm not referring to you, lasslicker.

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I enjoy it, myself. I have recently stopped using POP3 mail clients and decided to go web based (for a few unrelated reasons). 1GB of storage, and the ability to read all mail from every computer: I can't complain about that.
But the best part about Gmail is that you can download your mail and it stays on their server as well. So you could check the email with Outlook, send your mail with Outlook, and if you're on another computer you can still logon to the webmail version and still read everything.
Aesthetically, however, it isn't any more or less pleasing than any other web based e-mail. So if that is your biggest concern, than you can just skip Gmail.