Google has slowly, but steadily, come up with a variety of services for the Internet user. From using a search engine to blogging to uploading videos to social networking, there is a wide spectrum of services that Google provides now. The fact is, like it or not, we can not escape the Google.

In our latest poll, Gmail (the e-mail service provided by Google) has emerged as the most favoured e-mail service among The MAG readers. A convincing 65.6 % of the readers who participated in the poll voted for Gmail as their favourite e-mail service. Yahoo and Hotmail, the hot stars of yore, seem to have fallen off grace.

The reason for Gmail gaining popularity so fast is simple. They have used the KISS effectively. They have kept their service sweet and simple. Simple in Internet terms most often – but not always – translates to speed. Thus Gmail is one of thefastest email services out there. Yahoo and Hotmail are quite slow, as compared to Gmail.

Both Yahoo and Hotmail have tried to ramp up their services in the recent past, keeping in mind the competition. But, each time they bring out a new version, they seem to add complexities to it which not only alienates the general user, but also makes their service slower. The speed issues are very critical for developing countries where the broad band is still not accessible to most people.

In addition Google has added many other services to the Gmail package which make it even more attractive. Google Docs for one is an important tool that allows you to create and share documents online. Though, it is not the best office package that you can get, but it is one of the most simple and effective ones if you need to create documents online and share them with others.

The other thing about Gmail is that Google now owns a lot of different sites and you can use your gmail id to access most of them. So, whether it is Blogger, or YouTube, or AdSense, or Orkut, or Picasa, all you need is a Gmail id and you can access any of these services. It is like killing quite a few birds with a single stone.

So, do you use Gmail yet?