There are many ways to get your email, from POP accounts with your cable provider to free email through your favorite browser. Let me explain some of the glossary terms first, then I offer links to Best of the Web 2010 (courtesy of about.com), services and software options.
Post Office Protocol (POP):
is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both. The POP protocol has been developed through several versions, with version 3 (POP3) being the current standard. (thanks wikipedia)
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP):
is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol (POP). Virtually all modern e-mail clients and mail servers support both protocols as a means of transferring e-mail messages from a server. (thanks wikipedia)
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP):
is an Internet standard for electronic mail (e-mail) transmission across Internet Protocol (IP) networks. SMTP was first defined in RFC 821 (STD 15), and last updated by RFC 5321 (2008) which includes the extended SMTP (ESMTP) additions, and is the protocol in widespread use today. SMTP is specified for outgoing mail transport and uses TCP port 25. (thanks wikipedia)
E-mail client:
is a computer program used to manage email. Specifically, the term email client may refer to any agent acting as a client toward an email server, regardless of it being a mail user agent, a relaying server, or a human typing on a terminal. In addition, a web application providing message management, composition, and reception functionality is sometimes considered an email client. (thanks wikipedia)
The Complete List of Reader's Choice Awards 2010 Winners for About: Macs
Numer One:
Apple Mail
The Runners-Up:
Thunderbird 3.0 - 9%
Mailsmith 2.2 - 4%
Entourage 2008 - 3%
Eudora Pro 6.2 - 2%
The Best in Email 2010 - The Reader's Choice Awards
Mozilla Thunderbird — 54.82%
Outlook — 28.43%
IncrediMail — 9.64%
eM Client — 4.57%
Pegasus Mail — 2.54%
Webmail:
is an e-mail service intended to be primarily accessed via a web browser, as opposed to through a desktop e-mail client (such as Microsoft Outlook, Pegasus Mail, Mozilla's Thunderbird, or Apple Inc.'s Mail). Very popular webmail providers include Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, and AOL. (thanks wikipedia)
Best free email services 2010 Readers Choice Awards
Gmail — 45.50%
GMX Mail — 20.87%
Yahoo! Mail — 18.875
Windows Live Hotmail — 7.94%
Zoho Mail — 6.83%
In our office Thunderbird rules for our email client and Gmail is our most used webmail option on both the Windows machines and our Mac.