Back in the 1990s, my email client preference was Outlook Express. It was simple, free and fast. I could get all my POP and IMAP accounts without a problem. I could backup the database easily too.
Then Outlook came out and in comparison, I did not like it (in fact I hated it). Then I became an Microsoft Exchange administrator and fell in love with Outlook. Its integration with Exchange (and XP to a lesser degree) makes it a solid email infrastructure. Sure it would slow down the computer, sometimes crash and cost a lot of money, but it worked well for the most part.
Now, after some time of research, I am looking at Google apps. It is all in the cloud, which is the best feature for me. I also like the email grouping feature. There are some features lacking, that is for sure.
People love Outlook and it is challenging to have them switch. I hope Google apps becomes more heavy on the client side, such a rich text editing. At the same time, I truly enjoy everything being in the web browser, but of course I used to love Outlook Express.
