I have just switched from hotmail to gmail (mail by google) and I love it. I suggest that hotmail users (and others) give it a try as their webmail servise because the ads are much less intrusive and faster to load.
You get 2gig storage and it goes up all the time, you can google search your mail, and it has lots of features.
The problem is that you need an invite to join, you cannot just sign up. I discovered this website where you can get an invite. People send their spare invites in and you can go and pick one up for free. I send all my spare invites there.
http://isnoop.net/gmail/Enter the anti-bot key and the address that you would like the invite sent to (your current email, not your new Gmail one, you don't know what it is yet).
Try it out, I don't think you will be disappointed.
A screenshot, showing the conversation view, shows all replies like a forum thread, nice feature.

And a
review