Live data from Hacker News

Moving Away from Gmail

rolisz.ro

231–240 of 287 posts

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#231

I switched from Gmail to Fastmail back in 2013 [1] and haven't looked back. Fastmail has continued to make significant improvements, while keeping the interface lean and functional. It seems to me like $3/month is worth it for a service as critical as email. [1]: https://www.maxmasnick.com/2013/07/19/fastmail/ and discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6069944

Fastmail has continued to make significant improvements, while keeping the interface lean and functional.

And they are making open standards (JMAP) and contributing to the Cyrus IMAP server.

Moreover, they will soon have labels :) (currently in beta).

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#233
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree $3/month is reasonable for email, but since the encryption backdoor laws passed in Australia in Dec 2018, I've been avoiding Australian software.

Would the Australian encryption laws impact Fastmail that much? AFAIK their emails were never encrypted at rest to begin with so someone with a warrant could always have gotten in.

The question is why you would ever expose your data to the control of lawmakers who make such laws if you're not Australian.

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#234
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is time we realize that Google in its current form is broken in many ways. This is just one example. Others include: - insisting on captchas,and not just one, even when I'm logged in with my >10 year old, paid for account with two-factor enabled - not being able to detect flag attacks against legitimate accounts (as seen on the front page today) - killing reader, trying to force everyone to use a single id…

Some possible alternatives you could try: For search engine I'd suggest duckduckgo, it's far from perfect but I don't see any other viable alternative, if anyone knows anything please let us know. For messaging I would suggest Signal. The problem there is that most people don't know of it and they won't ditch whatsapp to go on something that their friends won't be on. That's the same problem that a new social network…

For programming related things (in general, everything non mainstream), I find ddg to be nearly unusable and I always have to go back to Google. The results I get on ddg are almost always only in the general area of the search terms, while Google gives me specific results that are relevant and helpful. Sadly that's why I can't switch as much as I want to.

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#235
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoho Mail only costs $2 more per year vs PurelyMail (it's shown on PurelyMail's website along with other competitors) and also avoids the "one man show" problem. I'm not sure saving $2 a year is worth using a self-proclaimed (according to its website) beta service. Then again Gmail was in beta for many years.

Last I checked, Zoho was per address; This guy specifically looked for domain support (meaning, potentially hundreds of addresses). PurelyMail seems to charge by storage, not mailbox address; and AFAIK so does Migadu (which, up until reading this post, I thought was unique in that).

Zoho is per user/inbox but a single user/inbox can receive emails for multiple domains and email ids. You can also set up individual sending identities. I am currently receiving email for 7 domains while paying for one.

There is an undocumented limit though. You can generally only have upto 30 aliases.

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#236
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some possible alternatives you could try: For search engine I'd suggest duckduckgo, it's far from perfect but I don't see any other viable alternative, if anyone knows anything please let us know. For messaging I would suggest Signal. The problem there is that most people don't know of it and they won't ditch whatsapp to go on something that their friends won't be on. That's the same problem that a new social network…

Thanks! I mostly agree. I already use duckduckgo. It is not as good as Google used to be but a lot less annoying - and Google is not as good as it used to be either, so I consider duckduckgo best now. Also trying with Google after duckduckgo is faster than the other way around. I already Signal but although more and more people join, nobody uses it for day-to-day texts and family updates. Everyone I know uses Telegra…

> Also trying with Google after duckduckgo is faster than the other way around.

And with the '!g'-bang you can still have privacy and use google.

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#237
post #191

I used to run my own mail server, and that very nearly cost me a career-changing job at Microsoft. My reply to a hiring manager for a team I really wanted to work on went into Microsoft's bit bucket because (I'm guessing) their spam detectors didn't like my own domain and my own instance of Exim sending out my emails. When a recruiter (thankfully) followed up and scheduled me for on-site interviews, that manager ment…

Wait...your mail was a reply to a mail they sent to you, and it went to the bit bucket? Their spam handling is not sophisticated enough to special case replies to mails that they have sent?

Microsoft's spam filter is awfully strict (the one for outlook.com at least but I don't think the one for its employees is that different)

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#238
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you are the only one holding the encryption keys to your content.

Email cannot really be secure, the recipient also has the copy, so holding encryption keys is meh?

They can secure their email as well?

Re: Moving Away from Gmail

#240
I'm a happy user of runbox myself. I learned about it here on HN, in fact. Good security and privacy, reasonably priced, and a quite good webmail client (I think – I haven't used it extensively). Of course, it helps that they're based in Norway, where I live.
Post reply on HN