my eggs in google's basket
I've moved mail service for this domain over to Google Apps.
This was a big step. I've been hosting my mailserver on this domain for a number of years, and, though it's posed certain hassles, there are benefits to DIY and control. But off-loading it into the cloud has already begun proving worthwhile, for spam prevention, speed, searchability, tagability, and dependability.
The transition wasn't beautiful, though:
The Import-from-POP function isn't (yet?) available in the Apps version of Gmail, so I used the Mail Redirect Thunderbird Add-on to push all my old mail to my new account. Message headers are maintained, so it looks just like the original To:, From:, Date:, etc., but GMail still lists the redirect-date in message lists. :(
Nor am I yet as in-sync as I'd like to be:
I couldn't merge my previous Gmail account, to which I've got other services tied, like Google Calendar, Analytics, Desktop, and Reader, (yikes!)
Yeah -- Reader too. I switched from my longtime feedreaders, NetNewsWire/NewsGator -- for the speedier (AJAXier) interface Google Reader provides. (Another desktop app bites the dust, in exchange for the browser/cloud.)
I hope this is a move in the right direction. Doing all I wanted, myself, wasn't feasible anymore. I'm keeping this site hosted on my machine, maintaining it as my (private/public) hub to the web. I hope Google continues to play nice with my data, and to mix and sort it in helpful ways, and that it's ultimately portable, should I (when I) choose to take my digits elsewhere.