- it's 1GB, so too small for me

- no settings page (or can't find it)

- no filters

- no labels

- no automatic signature

- no multiple stars (but there's a pin)

- doesn't seem to auto-save contacts

- isn't completely AJAX, the Mail and Contacts tabs reload the page

- ugly colors (email headers are purple)

So, this isn't a Gmail competitor for power-users at this point.

10+ years ago I payed a small fee for life time account with them, and they very were good, but they just never made any improvements to their service and gmail just got better and better to the point it seemed ridiculous to keep using fastmail.

I've observed the opposite. They constantly make improvements to their service.

They've got boatloads of features and they're getting better all the time.

When I did switch there was a bug in the forwarding that resulted in some of my emails not forwarding (although this went away and only happened to 3 emails).

They might have had better improvements for accounts that required continuous payment, but certainly not mine. It obviously got surpassed by free alternatives.

Despite this criticism, I am very satisfied with fastmail, they served me well for a long time.

If you think your email won't be surveilled just because your email service provider is not in the US, you could have a big surprise in store for you.

Email can be snooped anywhere between its source and its destination. That can include many hops (some even through the US, depending on where it's going).

If you're really concerned about privacy, you should be using encryption and maybe even anonymous remailers.

"http://www.fastmail.fm - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an unladen european swallow"

Seriously, I don't want to spam everyone I know with tired inside-jokes.

It did, and was reborn with the BlackBerry and iPhone era.

  --
  Sent from my PC

Google have always done their best to thwart Opera browsers from using their service, and this is a great response.

I'd like to know how fast Gmail is for Apps customers compared to the free version, though.

I had some more bookmarks on this, but I don't know where they are at the moment. Maybe I've misplaced them, or Opera sync botched something. I'll see if I can find some of them tomorrow.

[1]: http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2010/09/08/google-instant

Opera can mask itself as another browser. I've used this feature to circumvent some Google annoyances aimed at Opera.

On the landing page, they ask for an email address, and the hint is "[email protected]". So I enter "[email protected]" since they must be asking what I want my Opera address to be.

Nope. The next page puts that email in a username field, with another email address field below it, and a password field.

OK, so what kind of email address do they want now? A confirmation address? Crap. [email protected] is an invalid username. Hmm, maybe I'm supposed to put "me" in the username field and [email protected] in the email field.

Great, they sent a confirmation email to [email protected], which I just created and evidently can't use until I confirm the email address.

Fuck it. Back to Gmail.

Honestly, how hard is this?

  1. "Sign up" link
  2. Username
  3. Password
  4. Done. Show me my inbox with my email address prominently displayed somewhere.

1. Click login 2. If you have a google account hit "allow" 3. Done.

There's something to be said about keeping to user's expectations about common processes. Due to simply not needing it at this point in our product, our process is still "weird" compared to a normal signup process, but seems to have a much higher success rate in getting people to work through the process.

Hopefully opera will iterate a little and resolve this.

Gmail's success, i guess, was because it was offering something which no one had when it was first introduced. A huge space and ajax. It was even considered cool to have a "gmail" when you could create accounts with invitations only.

Maybe opera mail is fast, maybe it looks nice, maybe it is simpler. But i dont think it has a key factor which would make you switch from email you currently are using.

This is why your "public" email address(es) should really be something you control. It's worth buying your own domain name if just for this reason. Then you can switch backend providers without having to worry about giving everyone you know your new email address.

The other important part is to get a domain of your own. Put some thought into it since this will be the basis of your e-mail address for years to come. If available, your first and last name is usually a good, professional choice, or even just your last name if you get lucky. Go for something easy to remember and that quickly identifies you. Unless you come up with something very witty or you live in/identify with that country, try to stay away from the country-specific domains (.me, .ly, .tv, and so on) since the "big three" (com, net, org) are more recognizable and less subject to confusion when giving your address to others.

Visit a domain registrar of your choice (NameCheap.com, Gandi.net, GKG.net, etc) and follow the prompts. The common suffixes (properly known as top-level domains) are $8-15/year, depending on registrar. Most registrars offer free DNS services so all you need to do is pay your money at the registrar then sign up at the e-mail hosting provider of your choice. Be CERTAIN you keep paying the annual renewal fee. If you can afford it and really like the name (which you should, if you followed my advice above), register the name for several years. Make sure to keep the e-mail address on the domain registration accurate just in case you lose your password, and treat your login credentials at your registrar similar to your online banking details.

HTH :)

https://www.google.com/a/

They have setup instructions for most domains providers.

Once you've got that ready you can change at any time to another service or your own mail server by changing the DNS settings.

In case of gmail, it leads right into ur inbox. Back to gmail

Bummer that it seems to be just another email provider.

I've long been looking for a service almost as good as Gmail so i can leave and finally have some privacy in my email correspondence.

Thanks Opera!

I couldn't find it.