It's an unfortunate truth, but Hotmail isn't so hot any more. Microsoft acquired the growing webmail service in 1997 and by the early-2000s an @hotmail.com email address had become as essential as a Geocities webpage.

Despite competition from the likes of Yahoo and Lycos, Hotmail continued to rule the roost. Then Google ruined everything. In 2004 the search giant launched Gmail, which provided a clean interface and capacious storage.

Users flocked in their millions and Gmail continues to be the most popular webmail service, claiming 425 million active users over Hotmail's 350 million. Yahoo! has slipped behind with a user base of about 300 million.