MSN Hotmail was created to serve as a free email service that allowed its users to own an email account free from their internet service provider, or ISPs. This was critical because many computers were receiving viruses through email from their account from their ISPs. Hotmail now offers 1GB of storage space and as in the middle of adding more features as the free Hotmail Beta version has developed. Hotmail has a simple format and includes an inbox, junk mail folder, drafts, messages sent, and messages deleted.
Yahoo! Mail is yet another web-based email service. There are not much visual differences between Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo! Mail does offer 2GB of storage space, which is a definite plus. The Beta version is noticeably faster and responsive to actions. Message previews are displayed in a box underneath the messages. Other than this, there are not much significant differences between the latest version of Yahoo! Mail and MSN Hotmail, even considering both Beta versions and plain display versions.
The most feature packed of free email accounts is Google owned Gmail, or Google Mail. Gmail offers over 2000 megabytes of storage space and is now open to everyone who wishes to sign up for an account. Messages are displayed with the names of the sender, message titles, and a message sample. Individual messages may be starred for organizational purposes, or simply as a marker of importance. The user may choose to archive and arrange messages so that the inbox is kept clean and only displays the most relevant or recent email. Starred messages, sent mail, and drafts may be displayed at once.
Though all email accounts are working towards additional options and features such as the ability to send instant messages to other users, Gmail is definitely ahead of the game. With a Gmail account, the user has instant access to any of the tools included in "my services" such as the Blogger, Docs and Spreadsheets, Page Creator, and many more. Storage capacity is the largest and organization is most efficient. Now that Gmail is offered to the public, there is no turning back from taking advantage of this service.
Out of all the accounts, Gmail is the most useful as a tool to be incorporated into the lesson plan. Applications such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets may be used for group projects and group papers. Message display is convenient and efficient and members may chat while sending messages and utilizing tools.
And verdict is...
(From a scale of 1-10)
Hotmail receives a 6.0
Yahoo! Mail receives a 6.5
Gmail receives a 9.8
1 comment:
Hi: You could stretch a bit and choose tools that are NOT all the same kind of tool.
Nevertheless, your assessments were well done.
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