I was a hardcore "mail client app" guy (first using Eudora in the 90's, then moving to Thunderbird) for years - I liked having the ability to go back and read mails without a net connection.
That all changed when Katrina hit, and the easiest way for me to have access and keep in touch with others was via webmail, since I didn't always know if I'd be on my computer or on someone else's, or a public machine.
I never planned on staying with webmail (prior to Katrina, I hated the idea of using it at all), but here I am almost 6 years later, still using gmail
I may try to reinstall Thunderbird and see if I can import the massive amounts of email from the server, if that's plausible to do...