i use their imap server as well and rarely, if ever, log into the gmail interface. it's nice to know it's there if i'm on the road and without a phone and using

i use their imap server as well and rarely, if ever, log into the gmail interface. it's nice to know it's there if i'm on the road and without a phone and using someone else's computer. but generally the performance on imap has been great. another benefit is that most of the time when the rest of the world is complaining that they can't access gmail from the website, mine access is just fine. of course, if everyone sets their accounts up as imap this may no longer be the case, though i'm thinking that imap is likely a lot thinner of a protocol than what they gave going on with their web ui.