Friday Poll: Which e-mail service do you use?
Now that Gmail is king of the global e-mail hill, it's time to take stock of CNET readers' preferred service providers. Where does your e-mail loyalty lie?
Selecting an e-mail provider is a very personal choice, like picking out a deodorant or a mobile operating system or pledging your allegiance to a particular king in "Game of Thrones." You may be a longtime Gmailer or an old school Hotmailer or a dedicated Yahooer.
New numbers from ComScore show Gmail has topped Hotmail as the most popular e-mail service in the world with 287.9 million unique worldwide visitors in October. Hotmail edged in just under that at 286.2 million unique visitors. Yahoo Mail took top honors in the United States with 76.7 million visitors.
I've used all of the big three at one time or another. I have a Hotmail account lying fallow, a Yahoo Mail account I use for e-mail forms I don't want to give my main address to, and a Gmail account I use every day. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but Gmail ended up sticking around as my main squeeze.
Sometimes you might wish you had a different one, but the potential pain of making a switch keeps you with your current provider. It can be as troublesome to change e-mails as it is to change phone numbers.
Tell us about your experience. Which e-mail provider do you call your own? Defend the honor of your choice in the comments. Also let us know if you've switched providers recently or use more than one.