Hotmail was down for over two hours Thursday Sep 8, 2011

Small variation there. I can select the option as to how long I want my ISP to keep my mail before purging.

I am very picky about my email solutions. For the last 11 years I have used my own domains for email correspondence. I never use those crappy email services that my ISPs offer, because I don't like changing my email address each time I change ISPs.

I also prefer IMAP over POP, so that I can search for specific emailed info on my phone, netbook, or through a web interface. Furthermore, I am a hoarder when it comes to email: I have rar'd up 2 gigs worth of emails from the previous decade in my archives, and my current email load is nearing 4,000 emails.

Part of the reason I prefer IMAP is that I reformat and reinstall Windows and Linux distros on my hard drive fairly often, and backing up emails downloaded via POP3 every time would be a pain in the ass.