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At work I interact with customers a lot and have to log their contact info (phone, email, etc). 99% of people have a Gmail address. Even businesses - the ones who aren't yet established enough to have their own domain name set up. Evidently the masses love it.
I'm not convinced that the masses love it. I think the reason so many people have a gmail account is because it's the default on an Android phone. Lots of phones....lots of gmail accounts. Kinda like Internet Explorer and Windows computers. Sure, browser popularity has changed over the years but Internet Explorer wasn't "popular" way back when because it was good and people sought it out, it was because it came with the machine.
I'm not convinced that the masses love it. I think the reason so many people have a gmail account is because it's the default on an Android phone. Lots of phones....lots of gmail accounts. Kinda like Internet Explorer and Windows computers. Sure, browser popularity has changed over the years but Internet Explorer wasn't "popular" way back when because it was good and people sought it out, it was because it came with the machine.
I have gmail as my second email that I use when I sign up for or buy something online.
^^Agreed. In the earlier days of home computers and internet, I'd wager that a lot of people didn't even know what a browser was, or that there were several to choose from. It was just "the internet", an icon sitting on the desktop.
I remember a conversation I had with an employer around 2006, when I suggested we stop using IE on all the work computers and switch to something else. (IE was soooo buggy around that time, and broke so many websites). He didn't get it, and told me we couldn't uninstall Internet Explorer because we needed internet access for the business. LOL
So what am I doing right? I have gmail...can't remember ever getting any spam there. AOL sends maybe 2 to 4 a day.
Ignore the question because, actually, I don't DO anything
I figure both just do a good job censoring it.
Are you not aware that advertisers are what keep most media companies afloat? If you decide to pay for one of these, you have to enter your personal information, which opens you up to their marketing and advertisers sending you constant emails.
Are you not aware of the NYTimes business model? They don't share your email address with marketers and advertisers that send out newsletters or spam. Their advertising model is programatic and they largely rely on subscription fees to stay afloat.
Ezra Klein, disillusioned with Gmail, is trying something different.
Happy 20th Anniversary, Gmail. I’m Sorry I’m Leaving You.
There's a Better Way To Do Email
There is no end of theories for why the internet feels so crummy these days. The New Yorker blames the shift to algorithmic feeds. Wired blames a cycle in which companies cease serving their users and begin monetizing them. The M.I.T. Technology Review blames ad-based business models. The Verge blames search engines. I agree with all these arguments. But here’s another: Our digital lives have become one shame closet after another.
The shame closet era of the internet had a beginning. It was 20 years ago that Google unveiled Gmail. If you were not an internet user back then, it is hard to describe the astonishment that greeted Google’s announcement. Inboxes routinely topped out at 15 megabytes. Google was offering a free gigabyte, dozens and dozens of times more. Everyone wanted in. But you had to be invited. I remember jockeying for one of those early invites. I remember the thrill of finding one. I felt lucky. I felt chosen.
A few months ago, I euthanized that Gmail account. I have more than a million unread messages in my inbox. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/o...tal-shame.html
it might seem archaic, but the old 'mail' process on UCB unix was all we needed and did everything we want. And this being the future, one zTPF installation can give every inhabitant of the USA a mail account.
But alas, It wont interface with social media and teams etc to let people insult each other as easy, in public - which is the REAL goal
You are going to hear 100 posts about how gmail is the go-to cuz it activates your phone (unless ijunk) and that is fine as long as mail consists of 'hey what is call time for band practice?' gmail has the required back entry so we can get in (gubmint) and most accounts are hacked/cloned to please the chinese so win win all around!
FWIW, after 45+ years of this, when I hit FRA, if you wanna talk to me, show up. Im serious about that.
What everyone is complaining about isn't email - email hasn't really changed in the 42 or so years it's been around. Or more specifically, the protocol in which make email work is still pretty much the same. Yes, security has been built around it (TLS/SSL connections are typically required now to connect to servers and other routing/authentication controls such as DKIM and DMARC). But the main protocol - SMTP - has remained pretty much the same. Gmail pretty much works the same as Yahoo or your company's email - at least, under the hood.
What people complain about is the client interface used. Gmail is just an email service (SMTP) - and by default, users are provided with the web interface. Don't like it? Feel free to use many of the other clients (be it Outlook, Thunderbird, or even Eudora if using providers that isn't using SSL) and it will still work. Just as pretty much every web client will allow you to manage your emails from other providers.
If someone REALLY wants to go the old school way - you can manage your email w/ Pine. Or, for real lightweight method - bring up a terminal and SSL into the gmail server and use SMTP commands to your hearts content.
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