With Gmail, I am concerned that I could get arbitrarily locked out of my account with no recourse. Also, I wouldn't mind moving away from Google in general to support a more decentralized internet. If it is based outside of the US, even better. But these considerations are secondary.
So I am looking for something secure, reliable, and usable (good search, not getting overrun with spam) that I could use for the next few decades. Privacy is only important insofar as reasonable security is concerned (vague, I know, but my point is that practicality is more important).
What do you use and what have been the pros and cons?
* Get your own domain so you can move it if necessary;
* Download all your email regularly ... don't rely on the host storage;
* The above is as a backup ... if you get locked out of a host you can point your domain somewhere else, but you risk losing existing data;
I work almost exclusively locally, downloading everything, but still have the webmail interface for when it's more convenient.