Part of the problem is that there aren't enough people building such things. We've all had the luxury of a 'free' offering, which can understandably stifle pro

Part of the problem is that there aren't enough people building such things. We've all had the luxury of a 'free' offering, which can understandably stifle progression of alternatives. There are other challenges too. Decentralised services are probably the way forward but that creates a new set of problems around identity, communication and connectivity (things that are easier when everything just 'dials home'). User experience and design are also something that would have to be considered for such products before most people would/could switch. Keychain management will also be important to ensure security. Think of it like vaccines, where you need to have a certain proportion of the population inoculated before you can benefit from herd immunity [1]. If you're interested in a google-alternative that would deal with mail, contacts and calendars then get in touch with me (email in profile). There are a few of us who'll be building something and we'll need feedback. Despite all of the above, I'm pretty sure that Hotmail is still the biggest hosted email provider, followed by Yahoo and then Gmail. I can't remember where/when I heard this though. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity