I have started using the GMail interface a bit more as I've been flattening the OS on my laptop more regularly lately, and getting all my mail accounts set up and sync'd in Outlook isn't always worth the trouble. If Hotmail had IMAP, I'd consider switching my accounts over to it, mainly because of the better Outlook support. Please make sure that you are using Thunderbird 38 or newer before configuring your account.
#GMAIL LOADING BAR STUCK FULL#
The big advantage to IMAP for me is the iPhone support. Newer Gmail accounts wont work with Thunderbird 31 and older versions because these versions dont support Googles authentication (bug 849540 contains the full technical details). They both work great in Outlook, although Hotmail works somewhat better because it has a native MAPI plug-in and doesn't go through Outlook's dated IMAP code. I very rarely use the web interface for either service. However, I'm more and more using my GMail-based account (on my own domain) because of its IMAP support. I can use the arrow keys to move up and down. I prefer Hotmail's UI for the most part because it has a reading pane, and I can navigate through messages much more effectively (just like Outlook). Both have "loading" progress UI now, but it's only displayed for a second or two. Initial loading time between hotmail and gmail seems about the same for me.
i'm not saying this doesn't happen on gmail, because it does, just not as regularly as the other two. sometimes when i'm downloading a torrent using the full bandwidth hotmail just seems to freeze for ages and yahoo takes time to respond to an event.
i find yahoo and hotmail slower than gmail.