Over the course of my life, I’ve mostly determined that a few things are relatively true about e-mail:

1. Email is either the best or worst invention, probably both if you grew up with paper.
2. All mail user agents pretty much suck.
3. All standard protocols for dealing with mail are ancient.

Point one is something that I’ve concluded since the ‘90s. Point two is mostly internal bias. Point three should probably be considered fact at this point.