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> Gmail is not a monopoly. https://pdx.social/@evergreensewing/116388477430172491 https://pdx.social/@evergreensewing/116388477430172491 > For the first time

> Gmail is not a monopoly. https://pdx.social/@evergreensewing/116388477430172491 https://pdx.social/@evergreensewing/116388477430172491 > For the first time since we started the company back in January/February, we have a customer who does NOT use Gmail for their email address. > In case you wanted to see what a monopoly looks like.

unmole 6mo ago
Most people use Gmail because they want to, not because they have to. It's a free, superior product. Pretending voluntary preference is a monopoly is nonsense, but it is a very Mastodon-brained take.
- JoshTriplett 6mo ago
  One way monopolies form is by giving away something that others would have to charge money for. Another way monopolies form is via exclusionary practices and the resulting impression that "things that aren't gmail are less reliable". (Anti-spam does not have to be exclusionary, and anti-spam is generally a good thing, but when it reliably sends smaller providers' mail to spam based solely on them being smaller providers, it is.) Another way monopolies form is via social effects. "What's your gmail?", or people on first-tier technical support hearing you say an email address and assuming it's a gmail address and having to be corrected, and having never encountered one of those before. Assuming any of those are "voluntary preference" is a take.
diath 6mo ago
This is anecdotal but here's the breakdown of top 10 e-mail providers from my database, does not look like a monopoly: MariaDB > SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(email, '@', -1) AS domain, COUNT(*) AS cnt FROM accounts GROUP BY domain HAVING domain != '' ORDER BY cnt DESC LIMIT 10; +-------------+-------+ | domain | cnt | +-------------+-------+ | hotmail.com | 38015 | | gmail.com | 16280 | | yahoo.com | 4080 | | o2.pl | 2321 | | wp.pl | 2206 | | live.com | 1415 | | outlook.com | 814 | | interia.pl | 609 | | hotmail.es | 590 | | live.se | 521 | +-------------+-------+ 10 rows in set (0.044 sec)
- JoshTriplett 6mo ago
  That's helpful data, thank you. Sounds like it may depend on the service. (I'm genuinely shocked to see that many hotmail addresses, and can't help but wonder if there are correlations with other factors.)

unmole 6mo ago

Most people use Gmail because they want to, not because they have to. It's a free, superior product. Pretending voluntary preference is a monopoly is nonsense, but it is a very Mastodon-brained take.

JoshTriplett 6mo ago
One way monopolies form is by giving away something that others would have to charge money for. Another way monopolies form is via exclusionary practices and the resulting impression that "things that aren't gmail are less reliable". (Anti-spam does not have to be exclusionary, and anti-spam is generally a good thing, but when it reliably sends smaller providers' mail to spam based solely on them being smaller providers, it is.) Another way monopolies form is via social effects. "What's your gmail?", or people on first-tier technical support hearing you say an email address and assuming it's a gmail address and having to be corrected, and having never encountered one of those before. Assuming any of those are "voluntary preference" is a take.

diath 6mo ago

This is anecdotal but here's the breakdown of top 10 e-mail providers from my database, does not look like a monopoly: MariaDB > SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(email, '@', -1) AS domain, COUNT(*) AS cnt FROM accounts GROUP BY domain HAVING domain != '' ORDER BY cnt DESC LIMIT 10; +-------------+-------+ | domain | cnt | +-------------+-------+ | hotmail.com | 38015 | | gmail.com | 16280 | | yahoo.com | 4080 | | o2.pl | 2321 | | wp.pl | 2206 | | live.com | 1415 | | outlook.com | 814 | | interia.pl | 609 | | hotmail.es | 590 | | live.se | 521 | +-------------+-------+ 10 rows in set (0.044 sec)

JoshTriplett 6mo ago
That's helpful data, thank you. Sounds like it may depend on the service. (I'm genuinely shocked to see that many hotmail addresses, and can't help but wonder if there are correlations with other factors.)