Ask HN: Why is GMail the best email client?

Thunderbird has excellent support for encryption with its "Enigmail" plugin. It's the most secure and seamless encryption I can imagine. For example, it has options like "always encrypt when replying to an encrypted message", and "always verify before sending".<p>I suppose with Gmail I could use GPG via copy and paste, or perhaps the now abandoned "FireGPG" plugin for Firefox. Anyone else here use encryption?

Gmail is the first email client that allowed me to focus on communication and not worry about how to catalog stuff, in order to find it later.<p>The concept of archive, fast search and threading are something I wouldn't want to be without anymore.

Surely the question should be: why aren't any of these desktop clients good enough for you to stick with? What are their flaws that outweigh those of Gmail?

- No folders, archiving.<p>- Labels<p>- Killer search<p>- Fast interface

honestly, I hate gmail. I can't exactly put my finger on why though. I'm definitely not a fan of the threaded view.

The emphasis on Archiving.

I really like microsoft outlook