Because we care about efficiency, not least with regards to our time, and running one's own mail server is not an efficient use of such a scarce resource.
Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
21–30 of 267 posts
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#22So why is there such a high degree of Gmail usage among those groups? Because we're lazy. you give away control over your personal data Yes, and if my data disappeared tomorrow, I'd be pretty pissed off. But since Gmail has a sort of critical mass, it would be likely that other people would lose data too. Lots of pissed off users would tarnish Google's reputation and it's in their interest to avoid that. you put your…
I wouldn't even call it lazy, I call it efficient. Google makes email management easy so I can focus on something more interesting and hopefully more beneficial to my peers.
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#23It's easy, safe, secure and fast - but I also have an Yahoo Mail account as backup.
And you can't beat the price, unless everybody decides to go French and fine Google for providing a great service for free when there are other companies that do it for a fee :-)...
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#241. Rich webmail is an absolute must for me. I use too many different computers from too many different places for anything else to be remotely practical at this point. 2. No open source webmail servers that I've seen come close to Gmail's functionality, and I don't have time to write one that is. 3. Even if there was/I did, I couldn't get the spam filtering to anything like Google's level even in theory since I don't…
> 2. No open source webmail servers that I've seen come close to Gmail's functionality, and I don't have time to write one that is.
Obligatory comment pointing out an opportunity for disruption, etc., why aren't we all millionaires., etc. etc.
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#251. Because Google solved the spam problem better than anyone else has
2. Because maintaining your own email server (which many on HN are perfectly capable of) is a giant pain, especially when you have to deal with SpamAssassin, DKIM, and all of the other things that you need to do correctly to have your email work
3. Because I still have my data even if Google loses it — I have a backup from downloaded email through Sparrow as well as an entire backup directly from my Gmail through Backupify (https://www.backupify.com/)
4. Because I like to outsource the tools and services that I need to people that are experts at it. It's the same reason that I use Beanstalk for Subversion instead of hosting my own server, use FreshBooks for invoicing clients instead of doing it myself, and send transactional email through Postmark.
It's easier. Much easier. And they are all very good at what they do.
Bottom line: So that I don't have to worry about email. It just works, which allows me to do exactly the same thing.
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#26None of his alternatives — team up with family and friends to maintain a mail server, join a nonprofit to use their email (WTF?), use email from a small ISP — seem remotely practical for most people, so no wonder they use Gmail. Even worse, aside from the first alternative, all of his objections seem to apply to the alternatives as well (only with the name of the new email host in place of "Google").
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#27One point about privacy: E-mail is unencrypted and is delivered over public networks.
Assume that any government, be it your own, US or other will read your email if they so please, and encrypt anything you don't want them to read.
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#281. Rich webmail is an absolute must for me. I use too many different computers from too many different places for anything else to be remotely practical at this point. 2. No open source webmail servers that I've seen come close to Gmail's functionality, and I don't have time to write one that is. 3. Even if there was/I did, I couldn't get the spam filtering to anything like Google's level even in theory since I don't…
> 2. No open source webmail servers that I've seen come close to Gmail's functionality, and I don't have time to write one that is. Obligatory comment pointing out an opportunity for disruption, etc., why aren't we all millionaires., etc. etc.
I'm not sure that an open source webmail is an easy way to become a millionaire. =P
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#291. Rich webmail is an absolute must for me. I use too many different computers from too many different places for anything else to be remotely practical at this point. 2. No open source webmail servers that I've seen come close to Gmail's functionality, and I don't have time to write one that is. 3. Even if there was/I did, I couldn't get the spam filtering to anything like Google's level even in theory since I don't…
> 2. No open source webmail servers that I've seen come close to Gmail's functionality, and I don't have time to write one that is. Obligatory comment pointing out an opportunity for disruption, etc., why aren't we all millionaires., etc. etc.
Because not even "extremely security and privacy aware" hackers care enough to use it. That said, Zimbra is pretty bloody decent.
Re: Why do self-respecting hackers use Gmail & Co?
#30Funny. I just asked for alternatives to Gmail and other hosted software on the Richard Stallman post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3551345 Harald's suggestions boil down to - share the administrative and financial effort with friends - use hosting form NGOs or non-profits - use small companies and ISPs The first suggestions might work for me, but what does everyone else use? If you host your own what software?…
A device that sits in your home and hosts your docs, passwords, bookmarks, contact list, and so on? It sounds like you've reinvented the PC.