A year has passed

I have been using Gmail for over a year now, so it is good time to sum things up. First of all the buzz about Gmail is gone. Now I do not see anything special in Gmail. Why? Its functionality is still limited although new features have been added during those 12 months (like pop, forwarding etc.). Gmail lacks true virus protection - bouncing messages with exe or Access files is very annoying. Besides growing storage (which won't be used by many anyway) I do not see any special features in here. Other providers upgraded their free email services, so mostly they have the same storage but the functionality of their mailboxes is a way better. Conversations - one of Gmail main features - are irritating because simple subject change destroys the thread. Labels - they do help to sort mails but you need filters to effectively use them (automatic labeling) and number of possible filters is not enough - just 20. Also we do not have complete control of displaying the external images (not displayed by default, we can display them per email basis, but we can't switch it off later on). Next annoying thing - adding sent mail addresses to contact book automatically.
Do not forget, that Gmail is still in beta phase. I have a feeling that Gmail's development stopped in one place for a while. I hope it will start again very soon. Many features will be enabled soon, like additional languages support.