I tried Google Apps for Your Domain (GAFYD). I really did.
Over the past two years, I’ve been a bit annoyed with Postini’s overzealous SPAM blockage, the few times Gmail has been down, and Gmail’s difficulties with listing labels containing 100s of messages. AND I WAS A PAYING CUSTOMER! I realize now that I don’t use the labels as much as I had expected. Being able to read my mail from anywhere with a web browser wasn’t as useful as I had thought, considering my phone doesn’t render Gmail well.
Being able to read my messages in any client (OSX Mail,iOS Mail, Outlook Mobile, Microsoft Outlook) that supports IMAP is better.
So, I’ve taken a step back to the days of the email client and email server. I’ve set up Courier as my mail server. I use the aforementioned mail clients. Courier uses Maildir for searching folders and it is faster to search through that Gmail. I primarily use the mail clients on my MacBook Pro and iPad, but occasionally read email on my cell phone or iPod. Using a mail server for my domain rather than Google has improved performance when using these devices. Of course, now I have to maintain the software, but I don’t mind that.
For web-based mail, if I need it, I’ve downloaded and installed Hastymail2 on the web server.
I’m going to stick with using Gmail for my Contacts and Calendar as it allows me to sync with all my disparate devices (iOS, Windows Mobile, Windows, OSX). I’m on the lookout for another Calendaring and Contacts solution so that I can be free of Google altogether, but I don’t think that will come any time soon due to the device syncing constraints. I like the fact that my wife and I can see each others calendars and share a calendar, both nice features of Google Calendar. We’ll see what future solutions arise.