Gmail has upped the ante by offering IMAP access. At least for me. It’s probable that this is inconsequential for most people, but this is something I’ve been hoping for a very long time now. Lack of IMAP was the major reason I held off on making gmail my primary email service.This also ups the ante on Yahoo and Microsoft, both of whom offer only limited pop3 access (Yahoo, if you pay. Hotmail if you use Windows Mail Live or pay.). Again, for the common user, not a big deal. But for the hardcore user, IMAP is pretty huge.