Gmail Killer

I like Gmail. I like how it puts things into "conversations". The problem I have with it, is that it's been around for what 2 years now and it's still in Beta. The only way to get an account is to either have a friend with an account who will send you an invite or to give google your cell phone number (via SMS message). The google talk is a nice addition, but honestly everyone is on some IM network or another. The other down side is that it's slowing down. I think they are trying to pack so much stuff into it. First google talk, now google calendar. It used to be so fast, now it seems like I have to wait 45 seconds for it to load.

I'm currently testing the beta version of yahoo mail and I have to say that I'm really impressed. The funtionality looks just like outlook. Including drag and drop messages into folders. Highlight multiple messages with shift or ctrl (and then drag/drop them to where you want them to go), and a preview pane. I'm sure pretty soon that you'll be able to sort messages by conversation as well (that's functionality that's already inside of outlook)

The beta is currently closed unless specifically invited, but I read a way to get yourself invited. If you're interested in trying it out check the instructions below:

1. Login to your Yahoo Mail account
2. click on options located at the top right of the screen
3. click on account information located on the left hand side of the screen
4. if prompted for a password enter it
5. click the edit link next to member information
6. Scroll down to "preferred content" and click on your current choice (most likely US english). On the next page change it to Yahoo United Kingdom and click finish.
7. Agree to the terms of service.
8. You should be back on your member information screen. click on finish.
9. You should now have a screen inviting you to try the new yahoo beta.

If you don't like the beta you can switch out of it. (there's a link called switch back) and you can also change your settings back to the original settings and keep the beta.