Google Opens Gmail to External Clients

Google has begun to roll out "e-mail portability" to its Gmail accounts, which enables users to download and send messages over POP3 using any external e-mail client. The added feature is the latest move by Google to ramp up its free service and better compete with giants Yahoo! and Microsoft. Gmail's initial offer of massive storage space was soon matched by its e-mail rivals, but Yahoo! currently charges for POP3 access and MSN recently abandoned the feature due to abuse. E-mail portability is expected to be available to all Gmail users within two weeks.