Forget the nameless, faceless error messages of yore. Today’s Internet has a personality — and it’s cool. This morning, my sister ran into a minor snafu with the aw-shucksily contrite Mozilla Firefox…
…while I received a note from Gmail above my inbox that started “Hey! This is important.” And honestly, I would not have read it had it not contained such a preface. I think that if my life were a sitcom, my webmail would be the witty, sarcastic next door neighbor. Gmail is my Chandler.
Update, Sept 30, 2009:
Not to be outdone in cleverness and adorability, my blog host, WordPress, recently served up this quippy gem:
No Happy Medium 
Gmail is my Larry Dallas from “Three’s Company”. For years, it would entice me with its friendly usability (the “Swedish models” in this analogy) but at every turn, I’d be foiled by Mr. Roper (Hotmail) and I’d have to pretend that I don’t want the Swedish models because I’m actually gay.
Thankfully, the Ropers moved away and I no longer had to pretend. Larry and I now just do “wild and crazy guys” imitations all day long.