With all the talk about Web 2.0 applications and sites, I don’t hear much thinking happening on how to redesign our most common form of electronic communication: email.

TechCrunch compared the major email offerings yesterday, and found that Gmail was your best bet (a similar comparison was done quite a while ago, with the same offerings being considered).

But what is really new in these email offerings? Access to email through a browser is certainly nothing new (and if we look at the characteristics of Web 2.0, is only a small part of the equation).

New services like Yahoo Pipes will users to participate in the creation of new data from existing data sets (which is something like Michael Wesch’s database-backed web from yesterday’s post).

The issue with email is that it’s largely an isolated, one-way and very non-collaborative approach to communication.

So when we start asking where we’re going with Web 2.0, we must eventually start to question whether email is a communication medium that is going to survive.

More and more, people are looking for ways to not only expedite communication, but also to develop more meaningful communication that deepens existing relationships or forges new ones.

Of course, with all of these added features comes the burden of having to ensure that things are done securely. Web 2.0, especially when it’s included in an environment that as potentially sensitive (as many email boxes are), there are a whole new set of security challenges (not to mention new rules for those starting new online ventures).

With email being so entrenched in the way we do things (especially at work), it’s tough to see it disappearing any time soon.

But before email, someone might have said the same thing about paper memos.