Google's GMail service has become very popular, but many people still want to do their e-mail on their computers. Switching from a webmail interface to an on-your-desktop email client has a number of advantages. For example, when you go somewhere where you can't get on the internet you still have access to your e-mail. The problem has always been that without paying an IMAP provider, your email on the web and on your computer would become out of sync. Now that GMail offers free IMAP, anyone can have their e-mail on their desktop and on the web and keep them both in sync.
