I also agree that gmail is far superior to Yahoo and Hotmail, but I have found that in the online world, a large percentage of the population just sticks with what they know. They do this despite the fact that another service might be far better.

We are the early adopters, but we cannot forget about those that do not switch so easily. As an example, I have a friend who is using a sub-par web hosting service. I have tried to get him to switch to something else, but it is just easier for him to stick with what he has. The two services cost approximately the same and for his needs the current service works for him.

Likewise for email, there is not much of a reason to go through the hassle of switching email providers even to join Google's Friend connect on someone's blog.

To make FriendConnect truly beneficial you would have to create an app that lets anyone with an email address join the service. Then you would have a more universal FC for use on a blog.

legacy does have power tho…

That may be because Gmail is a relative newcomer compared with Yahoo Mail and Hotmail. And do not even get me started with the people who use their cable-provided email accounts.

which one's more important? it's ultimately an adoption-based q.

I agree at the level of implementation. Google Friend Connect is extremely easy to setup which certainly gives it an edge for the typical website owner. It will be interesting to see if ease in implementation can out weigh Facebooks massive user base.