I personally just use Gmail's web interface when on my computer and the Gmail apps when on my phone or tablet. Even when I worked for an enterprise facing company where everyone used Outlook (and had for years) I used the Gmail web interface/apps since the company used Google Apps.

I've just always felt that a desktop client just adds another layer where things can go wrong.

Since apparently everyone uses nothing but gmail, I think I am in minority by using Thunderbird consistently through years.

I use gmail, yahoo mail (through an extension), connect several pop3(I tell it to leave messages onn server), imap servers for work (for which emails are occasionally harvested and sold to spammers somehow..) and my own mail server (Hey, I am a web developer. No excuse to not have a el cheapo vps with webserver and an email servers combo), local maildir and mbox delivery for testing crap I write, several newsgroups and a shitloads of RSS/Atom feeds. It also has some xmpp integration of dubious usability. I also have Lightning extension which is supposed to behave as a calendar but I am a disorganised person and rarely check email by contemporary standard of every five minutes, whole day. Oh, and local spam detection.

Sure I look forward to Mailpile (just checked the marketing blurb) which promises to not show me ads and perform faster than "cloud" while offering all the features that should exist in practice to justify calling itself an email client. Competition is good and thunderbird is going senile by every passing day anyway.

I hope they won't spin off their custom web server as a standalone project too.

I ssh into a remote VPS, where all my mail is delivered into ~/Maildir.

From there I read it with lumail, if I have problems I revert to mutt.

I've got webmail setup for those times when I'm travelling and cannot use ssh.

Ooooh this hits a sore point with me this week.

I have used gmail to date simply because I must have a synched service between laptop and mobile. So gmail was just there as a IMAP/SMTP server for the iPhone mail reader

However as pg has pointed out, and the pretty good ActiveInbox implemented (hey ActiveInbox - apply for YC!) a mail inbox is really a task list.

And it must be linked to a contact book. All of which must be integrated at the event level.

So which mail client I use is less of the question than how do I solve

* capturing and synching contact details, contact events, email messages and tags across all these

I have a workable solution in gmail now, but I cannot capture events on my iPhone. Android appraently does so I will switch but its not all tied together neatly.

I have played with mutt and goobook but frankly I can see a good couple of weeks disappearing down this rathole. Yet it should be a solved problem. VCards, iCal, X-Headers, the solution is there. It just seems there is no RFC we can agree on

my rant on this subject: http://blog.mikadosoftware.com/2013/09/17/help-i-cannot-find...

Edit: am I just ill-informed (!) or has there really been no successful standardisation for "managing contact details events and tasks in a mailbox?"

Mainly Gmail web (and android) interfaces, because it's by far the most intuitive and furnished client I've tested. I also use Thunderbird and Horde for a non gmail account, but I'm far from being happy with them. Actually, I feel more like if I'm back at stone age with them ... NB: I'm actively looking for alternatives to gmail

Thunderbird, version 3, and you'll get me to upgrade when you pry the mouse out of my cold dead fingers.

Thunderbird was the first client I found that let me manage multiple separate accounts through the same interface, receiving and sending mail from each in a logical way. There's probably other ways to do that now, but I'm terrified of upsetting a system that Just Works.™

emacs + mu4e [1]

Since it's within Emacs there's great GPG support, familiar keybindings, and less contextual shift than switching to a browser. It's also fully searchable, usable offline, and non-blocking to other emacs operations.

[1] http://www.djcbsoftware.nl/code/mu/mu4e.html

I haven't found anyone else who uses it surprisingly, but Gmail Offline (Chrome App). I use it when online. It has amazing keyboard shortcuts (faster than Gmail proper), and then of course you get the perk that the data is offline once you hit the train. Actually, I think the keyboard shortcuts might be the only reason I use it...

Apple Mail, because it's nicely integrated, just works and there's a neat GPG plugin. I have no use for webmail interfaces, I'd rather use mutt in a shell than those.

Especially not Gmail, as every time I look at it, some other bullshit feature got added and the UI got more horrible.

Outlook. Gave up on gmail after getting more email accounts. Generally speaking Outlook and OneNote are my two favorite Microsoft programs that I have no viable replacement for.

Thunderbird just works. Not looking for an alternative.

On my mac I eventually replaced Sparrow with Airmail, it's good though can be a little buggy at times. On my iPhone I use Mailbox

I still use sparrow; love that app.

Mutt son - Mutt.

Claws-Mail. I found web-based clients slow.

Gmail for reading / sending email and thunderbird for backups on my mac.

Sparrow on my Mac and Mail on my iDevices. I like simple and light clients.

Emacs+Gnus

I use gmail (google apps) for now, but am excited by MailPile(.is)

Seems like a lot of people like the Gmail interface.

Eudora

mutt

Airmail on OS X.