I could probably switch to DuckDuckGo without much trouble. I could definitely switch to a newsreader, although I'd miss syncing. Still, might be some other service that does it or it's even possible to hack something together myself.
But Gmail? That's the tough one, I really like the interface and it seems every competitor tries to look like a desktop client.
Having a hosted Emacs might be an option (RSS reader/highly customized GNUS). My paranoia/principle level isn't high enough for that right now, though.
I recently migrated to GNUS and all in all I'm not missing the Gmail interface that much. Though Google still has all my stuff since I am just using their IMAP service.
Google Reader is indispensable, because it lets you see old items even after they've been deleted from the current feed. So many podcasts do this: only give a few recent episodes in the RSS feed, keep the old files on the server, but either bury the link somewhere or never link to them at all. With the silly default no-listing permission on the directory.
Without Reader, many podcast archives would be inaccessible most users.
For me it's the conversation views, the shortcuts and the labels -- and search, of course. You're right, neither yahoo nor gmx.com seem to get it, never mind how "polished" they got their HTML outlook clones.
But Gmail? That's the tough one, I really like the interface and it seems every competitor tries to look like a desktop client.
Having a hosted Emacs might be an option (RSS reader/highly customized GNUS). My paranoia/principle level isn't high enough for that right now, though.