I've gotten fed up with the UI changes that been made to (inflicted on) gmail in the last two years or so; new compose is the last straw. What are some good alternatives? SSL, non-"flat" UI and a good thread/conversation view are my only musts, skins/themes are a nice-to-have.
I can recommend <a href="https://fastmail.fm/" rel="nofollow">https://fastmail.fm/</a> which has been a really solid experience for me over the last few months. The UI is quite nice—see Mike Masnick's write-up for some screenshots.[^1]<p>Their servers are located in the US, tho, which might be a cause of concern for some—but that wasn't part of the question. (Personally, I will be probably moving my mails off of FM for that particular reason.)<p>[^1]: <a href="http://www.maxmasnick.com/2013/07/19/fastmail/" rel="nofollow">http://www.maxmasnick.com/2013/07/19/fastmail/</a>
I'm fortunate enough to have the resources to run my own email server. I host a few VMs on a dedicated server and had some space left for a Zimbra 8 installation.<p>I hate to promote pay-for's, but their Open Source Edition is still very flushed out.<p>If that's any interest to you, I'd be happy to host a few accounts. Canadian servers so standard CIRA and Canadian Privacy Protection Act rules apply.
Domains at <a href="https://gandi.net" rel="nofollow">https://gandi.net</a> include IMAP (1 GB). Combine that with Thunderbird or Sparrow and you're good to go. Another option is FastMail.