[buro9]

I still really want that service. But my gmail controls access to everything and I cannot overcome the risk associated with divulging my password to a third party.

No bells and whistles on Gmail is worth risking the security of the email, and that is precisely what is being asked when we're asked to give our password to a third party. And there are examples of such abuse of trust, you only have to look at the court case about Facebook execs using passwords to login to email accounts of competitors.

So yes, etacts looks wonderful. But it doesn't offer something so compelling that I would give out my password. It's actually very hard for me to imagine what could be so compelling that I would give out that password.

[sparky]

A valid concern. This prompted them to implement oAuth for GMail, as described here http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/06/gmail-imap-etacts/ and discussed here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1172211 .