Gmail finally renders UMich webmail obsolete!

See Techcrunch: “Uh-oh, Gmail just got perfect.”

It looks like Gmail is finally communicating with outside email addresses both ways using POP. You can now tell Gmail to check and manage any POP-enabled email account within the beautiful Gmail address — basically, it’s an online Outlook or Thunderbird with a nicer UI.

How’s this different from your old options? You could forward all your messages to a Gmail address (or anywhere else) from the UMich webmail control panel, but then all your replies come from your Gmail address, which can be off-putting (and, sez my boss, your correspondents sometimes get weird bounce messages from Gmail). You could also tell Gmail to import the messages from your UM account, but messages come from “you@gmail.com [on behalf of you@umich.edu],” which is ridiculous. But no more! Finally, you can customize the “from” address.

I’m setting up my account for this functionality now. Google’s features are typically rolled out to a few users at a time, with little apparent rhyme or reason. If you don’t have the new feature (check under the “Accounts” page), I’d say look for it within the week. If you do have it, check here for ITCS’ instructions on POP settings.