3 ms·
This And I'd argue that google's about the only thing propping up the internet. Chromium's a reasonably open platform (certainly more so than internet explorer
by nqzero 6y ago
This
And I'd argue that google's about the only thing propping up the internet. Chromium's a reasonably open platform (certainly more so than internet explorer, which not that long ago looked destined to become the dominant platform), gmail has kept email viable, android is somewhat open (and without it, apple might own that space entirely), etc
Every other player that's gotten traction has set up a walled garden
- jacquesm 6y agoGmail is actually a major force in further consolidation of email to a very few number of players. Ever increasing rulesets to be able to send to Gmail from other email servers increase the barrier to entry step-by-step until even the last holdouts will have to pick between a very limited number of parties to host their mail.
- screamingninja 6y agoNot sure what rulesets you're referring to. I understand the spam prevention techniques (DKIM, SPF) but those are all widely accessible open standards. Could you give an example of the barriers to entry that you mentioned?
- ivanche 6y agoTry setting up your own email server and you'll see. There were even a few horror comments on HN from people owning domains for 15+ years with stellar security email servers setup + DKIM + SPF whose emails are going straight into spam.
- jacquesm 6y agoMine was one of those. Highly frustrating.
- cocktailpeanuts 6y agoGmail consolidation is happening not because of some evil plan, it's happening because of the economics. In fact it's exactly the same reason why Mozilla is increasingly not sustainable. Email hosting is simply not a lucrative business. That's why it's all run by large portals like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, etc. which use them not to make money but to collect information about people, and monetize through ads or other indirect methods. Of course, this only becomes profitable at scale, and there are not that many companies at that scale.
- jacquesm 6y agoWell, I can't write for others but the economics had nothing to do with it in my case. As for Mozilla not being sustainable: I think they could be, but not the way they run their business. Email hosting is lucrative enough for Fastmail.