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Email? Gmail's constantly increasing (at the time) mailbox size was a game changer back when it first came out. I at least still recall who sent me an invite t

Email? Gmail's constantly increasing (at the time) mailbox size was a game changer back when it first came out. I at least still recall who sent me an invite to get access to the service, back when one was required.

CRConrad 5y ago
So do I: A still active poster here on HN. (I think he was a Google employee at the time, which was why he had invites to dole out.) Around... 2004? Thereabouts.
capableweb 5y ago
Well, I guess it's up for interpretation, but for me "old internet" was when people ran their own email servers and their own domains. With that perspective, Gmail basically ruined being able to run your own email service as it's hard to get through the spam filter. Maybe it's better now but it used to be hard. And not sure what Gmail contributed to open source, I can think of 0 projects/libraries/protocols/specifications that comes from Gmail and is used elsewhere widely. I guess that you can export to mbox via Google Takeout is something, but has very little to do with open source.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- techrat 5y ago
  > but for me "old internet" was when people ran their own email servers and their own domains. For me 'old internet' was shitty ISP provided mailboxes that you lost once you moved away from your local dialup service. GMail is still a substantial improvement over that.
- rchaud 5y ago
  For me, 'old internet' is when individuals hand-crafted sites on the internet for their hobbies and interests, and searching Google actually surfaced those sites. Now, no one makes a website except to try to make money somehow.
masklinn 5y ago
> Email? Gmail's constantly increasing (at the time) mailbox size was a game changer back when it first came out. Google created a new email service, they did not take over existing email infrastructure. At least initially anyway, these days it's become quite hard to run your own email and have your messages be received.
aasasd 5y ago
Well, that ended up centralizing email, so basically the beginning of the end of the old web.
swiley 5y ago
My pre-gmail mailbox was hosted by my father and didn't have that problem.

CRConrad 5y ago

So do I: A still active poster here on HN. (I think he was a Google employee at the time, which was why he had invites to dole out.) Around... 2004? Thereabouts.

capableweb 5y ago

Well, I guess it's up for interpretation, but for me "old internet" was when people ran their own email servers and their own domains. With that perspective, Gmail basically ruined being able to run your own email service as it's hard to get through the spam filter. Maybe it's better now but it used to be hard. And not sure what Gmail contributed to open source, I can think of 0 projects/libraries/protocols/specifications that comes from Gmail and is used elsewhere widely. I guess that you can export to mbox via Google Takeout is something, but has very little to do with open source.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
techrat 5y ago
> but for me "old internet" was when people ran their own email servers and their own domains. For me 'old internet' was shitty ISP provided mailboxes that you lost once you moved away from your local dialup service. GMail is still a substantial improvement over that.
rchaud 5y ago
For me, 'old internet' is when individuals hand-crafted sites on the internet for their hobbies and interests, and searching Google actually surfaced those sites. Now, no one makes a website except to try to make money somehow.

masklinn 5y ago

> Email? Gmail's constantly increasing (at the time) mailbox size was a game changer back when it first came out. Google created a new email service, they did not take over existing email infrastructure. At least initially anyway, these days it's become quite hard to run your own email and have your messages be received.

aasasd 5y ago

Well, that ended up centralizing email, so basically the beginning of the end of the old web.

swiley 5y ago

My pre-gmail mailbox was hosted by my father and didn't have that problem.