4 ms·

So, self-hosted iMessage? isn't it cool?

• mozumder 10y ago
  Mostly the absolute easiest way to have your own email server. I honestly don't know why anyone would use GMail.
  • dbbk 10y ago
    You _honestly_ don't know why anyone would use Gmail? You really can't think of a single reason?
    • mozumder 10y ago
      I'm sure there are reasons, but from all I can think of, there are better reasons not to.
      • JustSomeNobody 10y ago
        Such as the stability, up-time and guarantee that your emails won't wind up in Junk that comes with running one's own email server?
        • mozumder 10y ago
          Are these problems you face with Gmail? I don't regularly use Gmail, and I think my uptime is about a year. There is a spam filter in OS X Server, but I don't know how it compares to Gmail.
          • arsenico 10y ago
            JustSomeNobody was referring to sending emails rather than receiving them. And of course, Gmail is a great piece of technology which is free, et still comes with a price - privacy, corporate greed, ads.
      • TheRealDunkirk 10y ago
        I hosted all my own services on Linux for a decade and a half. I was concerned about using Gmail because of privacy issues. I pointed a vanity domain at my house, and did web sites, VPN, and email (among other things, like Nagios). But, oh god, email. I tortuously configured Postfix with all the anti-virus and blackhole and spam filtering bells and whistles, and procmail to fetch from other accounts and combine them, and then set up some sync server software (I forget which one) to handle sync'ing contacts and notes with my phone. Then I realized that 90% of the email I got was from someone else using Gmail, so Google had a copy of most of my email anyway, so I threw in the towel. When I started using Google, I realized how pitiful my home-brewed attempts at spam-proofing my email had been, despite all my efforts. Mostly, though, I was just really glad to have the time back, and not feel the need to go over and tweak every moving part of my stack whenever Gentoo would rev one of the pieces or Ubuntu would release a new version, so that I could keep up with all the security issues without needing to read every notice. As with most things, YMMV, but that's my perspective. Now I use iCloud because I trust Apple more. (Not completely; just more.)
  • jpalomaki 10y ago
    I think pretty good one is security. If you are running your own mail server on your own domain, you need to figure out how to secure the domain and DNS against hijacking. Google provides some practical security here. It is well known that there's no human support available for Gmail, which means there's no support people who could be fooled by Mallory's social engineering skills. And of course if you took a bit wider view to the security, it includes also being able to access the data. While Gmail has probably had some issues in the past, I still feel it is more reliable than the internet connection which I have at home. This becomes a factor especially when I need to access my emails while travelling (and there's nobody at home sorting out possible connection problems).