6 ms·

Gmail It's the one service easily replaced. If they go this route the internet will be a more decentralized place

by wolco2 6y ago

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
collinmanderson 6y ago
Search is the one service easily replaced. Took me ~5mins to switch to DuckDuckGo.
1_player 6y ago
Easy? Good luck replacing all your accounts and contacts using your @gmail.com email. You'll move to another provider but you'll need to keep the old GMail one around for a long time before you're safe deleting it.
- the_other 6y ago
  People you actually want to speak with will learn very quickly when their messages don’t get through. Sure, keep your gmail alive whilst you transition yourself, but don’t leave it hanging around too long. The inertia will kill you.
- sbarre 6y ago
  Sure, you just set up forwarding (oh look, forwarding just became a paid feature in Gmail!) and then respond from your new email, and over time it will fix itself and you won't lose emails..
  - 1_player 6y ago
    Definitely, the point is you'll have to pay Google whether you want it or not, if they make GMail a premium product. So it's not so easy to leave at all.
    - sbarre 6y ago
      Fair.. I've actually been looking at paid email services lately, thinking that perhaps I would rather pay a reasonably yearly fee to have more guarantees and perhaps a bit more control over my email.
- leipert 6y ago
  Been using a different mail provider for 5 years. Just the other month google deleted my gmail account (had it set up to delete after a year of no-login) It is quite easy to migrate: 1. get a new mail account 2. forward everything from your gmail account 3. sort everything GMail into a separate folder in your new account 4. slowly change email addresses in accounts and let people know your new address. I think after a year I had 99% of accounts migrated, and can only remember one or two that I moved after that. It’s a good way to declutter accounts as well and was made a bit easier because I use a password manager. Also with private emails, if someone contacts me after 5 years, they likely know someone I know and can get my contact Info via them or social media. Take the opportunity to migrate to a domain you own, because then you are provider independent.
  - helmholtz 6y ago
    Might I ask what password manager you use? And what do you do when you need to access websites from a machine that isn't yours? Also, did you consider the single-point-of-failure argument? I would like to know your opinion on that.
    - 8ytecoder 6y ago
      Not OP. I’ve been using 1Password for about 13 years now. I have the app on my phone and I can view the password and type it manually in a machine I don’t own. It’s inconvenient but it works.
    - Shared404 6y ago
      Also not OP, but I use pass. If I need to access accounts from a different machine I use termux and manually type it in. I'm not worried about it being a single point of failure (Data loss wise), as I have the password store backed up in multiple places. Security wise, I'm trading out my brain as a single point of failure for pass being a single point of failure. I trust pass more.
    - leipert 6y ago
      Used lastpass back then, now Enpass with sync across devices (tablet, phone, PC). Regular backups of the Enpass file into a folder that is synced to my NAS. Wanted to look into other password managers, preferably open source, but at the time Enpass had the best syncing options combined with a good enough user interface that’s suitable for less tech folks. Edit: I mainly use all the things on my devices, and don’t try to use things from untrusted devices. The only use cases with untrusted are: - copy shop -> Sending the file via share drop - PC of a Family member -> manually typing password from phone.
- TheWickerMan 6y ago
  I switched everything over to protonmail a few years ago. I’m was never as invested in gmail as a lot of people, but it was my primary email for many years. It was still a pain to switch, especially since i started fresh (no email / contact transfers). Now they have better tools to transfer email but after some thought, i wanted to start over with everything. It did feel really good once it was done. It forced me to evaluate what was important vs what wasn’t, and it got me pretty organized. Not for everyone but its doable. My guess is it took 6 months for me. I do have my gmail account yet just in case but its been a few years since anything important showed up there. I mainly keep it for youtube anyway.

Gmail It's the one service easily replaced. If they go this route the internet will be a more decentralized place

by wolco2 6y ago

Gmail It's the one service easily replaced. If they go this route the internet will be a more decentralized place

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

collinmanderson 6y ago

Search is the one service easily replaced. Took me ~5mins to switch to DuckDuckGo.

1_player 6y ago

Easy? Good luck replacing all your accounts and contacts using your @gmail.com email. You'll move to another provider but you'll need to keep the old GMail one around for a long time before you're safe deleting it.

the_other 6y ago
People you actually want to speak with will learn very quickly when their messages don’t get through. Sure, keep your gmail alive whilst you transition yourself, but don’t leave it hanging around too long. The inertia will kill you.
sbarre 6y ago
Sure, you just set up forwarding (oh look, forwarding just became a paid feature in Gmail!) and then respond from your new email, and over time it will fix itself and you won't lose emails..
- 1_player 6y ago
  Definitely, the point is you'll have to pay Google whether you want it or not, if they make GMail a premium product. So it's not so easy to leave at all.
  - sbarre 6y ago
    Fair.. I've actually been looking at paid email services lately, thinking that perhaps I would rather pay a reasonably yearly fee to have more guarantees and perhaps a bit more control over my email.
leipert 6y ago
Been using a different mail provider for 5 years. Just the other month google deleted my gmail account (had it set up to delete after a year of no-login) It is quite easy to migrate: 1. get a new mail account 2. forward everything from your gmail account 3. sort everything GMail into a separate folder in your new account 4. slowly change email addresses in accounts and let people know your new address. I think after a year I had 99% of accounts migrated, and can only remember one or two that I moved after that. It’s a good way to declutter accounts as well and was made a bit easier because I use a password manager. Also with private emails, if someone contacts me after 5 years, they likely know someone I know and can get my contact Info via them or social media. Take the opportunity to migrate to a domain you own, because then you are provider independent.
- helmholtz 6y ago
  Might I ask what password manager you use? And what do you do when you need to access websites from a machine that isn't yours? Also, did you consider the single-point-of-failure argument? I would like to know your opinion on that.
  - 8ytecoder 6y ago
    Not OP. I’ve been using 1Password for about 13 years now. I have the app on my phone and I can view the password and type it manually in a machine I don’t own. It’s inconvenient but it works.
  - Shared404 6y ago
    Also not OP, but I use pass. If I need to access accounts from a different machine I use termux and manually type it in. I'm not worried about it being a single point of failure (Data loss wise), as I have the password store backed up in multiple places. Security wise, I'm trading out my brain as a single point of failure for pass being a single point of failure. I trust pass more.
  - leipert 6y ago
    Used lastpass back then, now Enpass with sync across devices (tablet, phone, PC). Regular backups of the Enpass file into a folder that is synced to my NAS. Wanted to look into other password managers, preferably open source, but at the time Enpass had the best syncing options combined with a good enough user interface that’s suitable for less tech folks. Edit: I mainly use all the things on my devices, and don’t try to use things from untrusted devices. The only use cases with untrusted are: - copy shop -> Sending the file via share drop - PC of a Family member -> manually typing password from phone.
TheWickerMan 6y ago
I switched everything over to protonmail a few years ago. I’m was never as invested in gmail as a lot of people, but it was my primary email for many years. It was still a pain to switch, especially since i started fresh (no email / contact transfers). Now they have better tools to transfer email but after some thought, i wanted to start over with everything. It did feel really good once it was done. It forced me to evaluate what was important vs what wasn’t, and it got me pretty organized. Not for everyone but its doable. My guess is it took 6 months for me. I do have my gmail account yet just in case but its been a few years since anything important showed up there. I mainly keep it for youtube anyway.