Hello. I had been using the Toronto Freenet's email, but they've had some pretty serious issues lately; so, I decided to look for another email that was not big business. One that was perhaps associated with charity, or just people who believe in the free flow of ideas.

I use Debian*, and like it. I like its philosophy, and that it is not big business. It is a member of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI), accepting donations. Likewise, linuxquestions.org seems to be a sincere attempt by some guy who lives in Buffalo NY to be helpful to people.

I'm looking for webmail, and/or email, that is similar to Debian. Initially I was going to rely on linuxmail.org, which on the surface seemed genuinely interested in being helpful. It's interface was slicker than I'm used to (a tad beyond squirrelmail, or courier), but it seemed sincere. However, a whois on this site reveals connections to Typhoon Games Ltd, and some company named Outblaze. It's not, I believe, a few people getting together, with donations, providing a public service.

Is there webmail and/or email service that is either a member of SPI, or is simply some volunteers trying to provide an alternative to big business? If so, please put forward your suggestions.

PS, I would consider gmail, but when I try to sign up, it states I need to either have a cellphone, or I need some special invitation code (I have neither). I think I would prefer something more modest, anyway.

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*I had been considering purchasing Libranet, to make my life a little easier, but Libranet, like the Toronto Freenet, seems to be in crisis mode. Debian works well enough for me.

If you want a Gmail account, read the thread in General titled " News: The Definitive Gmail Thread! (Put all invites here)", many of our members will offer you an invite.

And you will find the following: anyone offering a webmeil or email service will have ties to big business. Someone has to pay for bandwidth, hosting, maintenance, servers, equipment and so on. Pick one based on stability rather than their business methods.

And I have moved this to General as it's not really a Linux technical question.

I have dabbled with many free email services over the years.

Most end up out of business despite their best efforts. Donations alone will not pay the bills.

If you want reliability and longevity in an email service look at the big boys like gmail and yahoo. Myway is an excellent service with an unbeatable home page. www.myway.com