As far as I'm concerned I only use hotmail because it nicely links to messenger which is about the only thing my parents seem able to use on the laptop I gave them (and I've tried). Nicely links them to email and the webcam which is a good alternative to the phone. So I have one of my computers with it set up to keep in touch with them. Apart from that I wouldn't touch it because of the massive amount of spam (although is mainly because of hotmails fame I guess), slow access, and sometimes crashtastic functionality. Ok, so it's now got 250Mb, which is pretty good, but it would never be my first choice (only really started using it this year when I set my parents up).
I prefer Gmail to Hotmail. It seems faster, and cleaner, and overall seems to have a more useful interface (with a couple of annoyances I admit). Oh, and Gmail doesn't rub out your account until something like 9 months of inactivity (isn't hotmail only 1 month? - at least it was a few months ago if I remember rightly) But neither compare to my main email I get from my ISP. Can't remember max main online storage size, but something like 25Gb, and I don't even know my max attachment size. Also can be accessed online too, so don't need to setup an email account everywhere I go (which is obviously the main advantage of gmail/hotmail). Now if only my parents would accept the email account from my ISP (can assign a dozen or so) which I have created. Or more likely stop using hotmail. Heh, always the same. Once they have learned one thing they don't want to know about anything else.
As far as I'm concerned online email services are best for spam magnets. ie. order everything and subscribe to every service with a free online account.
Oh yeah, and my normal .com hotmail account has finally been upgraded to 250Mb about 4 days ago. No need for .co.uk version.
Cheers
Oh, and I've got a couple of gmail invites left if anyone wants one. Just about everyone I know has one now, so just ask
I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing