Hmmm, yes and the value of web-based services is that people won’t lose their mail when their local hard-drive goes south. And that a person’s email is available anywhere, anytime as long as a web connection is available unlike local mail databases. Plus, GMail has that awesome search! BBC also has a great rundown of the top services in the U.S. and Europe:

Web-based e-mail services like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL Mail on the Web are becoming databases by default as a growing number of people use them, to store data and photos so they can retrieve them from anywhere.

(Via BBC.)