> If your friends somehow believe that Gmail is the only mail provider in the > world I suppose I am sorry for them but I don't understand why that is anyone > else's problem.
The idea is that you give away something for free, gain significant market share (=network effect), and then get into a position where you can first push standards (hello MTA-STS), and later can migrate to a walled garden, because the default becomes 'if you want it to work, just go to X'. _Then_ you can start to monetize either the product (what we see a lot with 'free' EdTech from google et al.) _or_ use your market position to ensure the technology develops along your product vision (I would argue this is what the chromium engine accomplished for the web). We had this with IE back in the day, now essentially with the chromium engine; As I said, we have this quiet a lot with EdTech. We had this with XMPP. And I think there are also some bold opinions on protocol suggestions for congestion control coming out of google for quick. So, in a sense, it kind of fits in a general trend of centralization, and centralized control; And that may indeed be a problem for people _not_ wanting to host their mail with one of N big providers. And email is simply 'next'. And I don't put any 'nasty' words towards Google/gmail here. They just do what an independent actor working in self-interest trying to optimize their outcomes does in a given system. With best regards, Tobias -----Original Message----- From: mailop <mailop-boun...@mailop.org> On Behalf Of John Levine via mailop Sent: Sunday, 17 April 2022 05:52 To: mailop@mailop.org Cc: p...@redbarn.org Subject: Re: [mailop] [E] $GOOG It appears that Paul Vixie via mailop <p...@redbarn.org> said: >srsly? do you really think changing one's domain name or ISP is a >reasonable way forward when google isn't accepting one's e-mail? When your domain is a cruddy free one which has earned a poor reputation, yes. As I have said a few times, sometimes free services are worth what they cost. >i think you could have punctuated that sentence after "operators". but >google is a "shabby mail operator" (your words) who has taken my >friends and family as hostages. ... What we have here appears to be reverse Stockholm syndrome. Google gives away Gmail accounts for free. It is clear that Gmail users are getting at least what they've paid for, and in many cases more than that. If your friends somehow believe that Gmail is the only mail provider in the world I suppose I am sorry for them but I don't understand why that is anyone else's problem. R's, John _______________________________________________ mailop mailing list mailop@mailop.org https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop _______________________________________________ mailop mailing list mailop@mailop.org https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop
