When Gmail was launched, I was accessing it with my 1M broadband from China. But boy was it fast. Not just fast, it was clean, simple, pure. Hotmail, in contrast, was clumsy and cluttered and Microsoft was stuffing everything MSN related into it, MSN Space etc.

Ten years later I'm accessing Gmail, still from China, but with my 20M fiber-optic connection and yet it just won't open. (Certainly this has much to do with the government as well) But When I do get to open it, I see a cluttered interface with so much stuff I never use, Hangout, Google Plus, and so on.

Now who's the go-to simple and pure email service? Outlook.

Gmail these days is the mark of Google being an establishment.