Yes, for some time now, Google has opened their Gmail to anyone wanting a online email account with a large amount of storage. Before you needed to get a invite from Google or from someone that already had a Gmail account. The person having the account had 100 invites to send out to friends and family to get a account.
This is a great service I think, and with the other tools offered, it is a hard thing to not sign-up for a account today. You can even check other mail accounts in Gmail. Yes, you can check other POP accounts like your current mail. This is specially helpful when you are on vacation.