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What Gmail did to email (www.theverge.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/technology

94 comments fedilink hide all child comments

When Gmail first appeared in 2004, the idea of having what seemed like a never-ending space for email was revolutionary. Most paid services were providing a few megabytes of space, and here came Google promising a full gigabyte (which, at the time, seemed huge) for free.

Over the years, however, Gmail has added a plethora of features that it touts as “improvements” but some of them are irritating. Worse, it looks for ads for things that it will never need and sticks them at the top of email list.

Back in the dark ages before Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and other free cloud-based apps, most email happened either via paid services or inside of walled gardens. In the former, you paid a service provider for an email account and downloaded your email into an app that only lived on your computer — an app with a name like Pine, Eudora, Pegasus Mail, or Thunderbird.

For the most part, nobody was scanning your email to find out the last time you bought shoes, or whether you were shopping for car insurance, or that you had recently been buying gifts for a relative’s new baby. Nobody was taking that information and selling it to vendors so they could drop ads into your email lists or surprise you with additional promotional messages. Your email lived on your computer alone. Once it was downloaded and erased from the server, it was just yours — to save or erase or lose.

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[–] dogslayeggs 54 points 1 month ago (4 children)

When I left college, my university closed my email account. That sucked, but I moved on. Then the paid service I used closed down, so I had to change again. That sucked. I lost access to my Xbox Live account because they send all my "update password" emails to that old address and won't update to my new address without confirming the change on an email that no longer exists.

Now I've had the same email address for 17 years and really really don't want to move on, even though I hate that it is with Google. They went from "don't be evil" to "be as evil as possible."

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 month ago (2 children)

And that is why I pay for my own domain. The service can change, but my domain is eternal (or near enough for my purposes)

[–] dogslayeggs 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm regretting not doing that 20 years ago.

[–] Evotech 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I did the conversation a few years ago.

Yes it took me a full year probably of updating accounts. But it's doable if you do it in small chunks at s time. I set up a forwarding to my new domain and when I felt like it updated a few more accounts. Untill one day, nothing showed up anymore.

Worth it

Actually deleted my Gmail account I think

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

It’s important to maintain a non-personal domain account for management in case there are issues with logging in and the domain email has a disruption. I read some horror stories on the other place about such Catch-22s.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I joined gmail in beta so similarly had had my address for an absurd amount of years.

Last year I completely switched over to proton for everything and keep my gmail as a junk account for shit I want to sign up for but don't want to dirty my main with.

It was a daunting feeling undertaking at first but honestly it took me a couple of hours to go through and change the email on things I actually use and want to keep.

It was a nice freeing feeling and really helped me weed out what accounts I truly use and want to keep. I would highly recommend it as a cleansing exercise as much as anything else!

[–] wild 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Could you share some more thoughts on your experience with Proton over the last year after switching from Gmail?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't know if I am the best person to ask as I am not really a "power user" or anything. It sends and receives emails and isnt google which is all I really need, I can't really talk about any features it may or may not have that people might look for.

I like that I can make up to 10 different address from within that same account, send emails from any of those accounts from just a drop down box without logging in and out of different accounts.

I like that they give me credit to my account based in how much space I actually use in my inbox.

I recently upgraded to an "ultimate" type account which covers all their products for me and my gf to try and encourage her to move away from google. The way the drive works is a bit counter intuitive in my opinion and the password manager thing seems to work well across both windows and android but I've never used a password manager programme before so it could be dogshit in comparison to others, but it seems to work well for me.

Never tried the VPN as I pay for AirVPN.

Sorry, not very insightful for you in terms or details but I like it a lot and it all works well for me, I've never had issues with any of the apps or logging in and accessing my stuff. The primary thing for me was moving away from google.

[–] wild 2 points 1 month ago

Thank you, this is helpful! I hadn't heard about the credit for unused space. That's kinda cool.

[–] asdfasdfasdf 12 points 1 month ago

I bought a custom domain and use it with Proton. If Proton shuts down or something I can easily use the same domain with another provider.

[–] BananaTrifleViolin 7 points 1 month ago

That is a good point. I have moved to Proton mail but I keep my Gmail account as a backup and it's part of my still used Google account. Can't see myself ever shutting it down completely just in case, as much as I avoid Google as much as possible now.