I loved Gmail when it was a kick-ass email client in the browser. I was okay with the labels, even though their IMAP implementation was dubious. I was kind of meh about their ham filter, since I usually go for inbox zero.
Anyway, I left gmail a while ago, and really haven't looked back. It seems to transform into its own thing, somewhat tangential to traditional email. More like the kind of value-added services we see popping up and dying everywhere on the web, and less like the basic infrastructure kind of thing it started out as.
I think we agree about the usefulness of things like the Promotions tab, but I just never turned it on. It's not really a big deal.
Meanwhile my mom loves the email promotions she's signed up for (if only she would stop forwarding me ones every few days...), so something like this is great for her. Different strokes and all that, and it doesn't degrade my experience by existing. Seems like a win.
It seems to transform into its own thing, somewhat tangential to traditional email.
Email itself has transformed into its own thing, "somewhat tangential to traditional email". Email is now used for a host of interactions that extend far beyond its roots. GMail is adapting to meet those usage patterns.
I'm not calling your choice to move wrong - you may not use email for all the things the GMail is attempting to account for. But it would be foolish for GMail to stop adapting.
If it's just the newer interface that you dislike, Google still offers the classic Gmail inbox. It's what I personally use because it's at least twice as fast as the fully-loaded view and I never use any of the new features anyway. It sure beats actually paying for something like Fastmail.
That said, I find the tabs much more useful in the mobile client. One reason is that I only get push notifications for emails in my primary tab.
Comments
I loved Gmail when it was a kick-ass email client in the browser. I was okay with the labels, even though their IMAP implementation was dubious. I was kind of meh about their ham filter, since I usually go for inbox zero.
Anyway, I left gmail a while ago, and really haven't looked back. It seems to transform into its own thing, somewhat tangential to traditional email. More like the kind of value-added services we see popping up and dying everywhere on the web, and less like the basic infrastructure kind of thing it started out as.
I think we agree about the usefulness of things like the Promotions tab, but I just never turned it on. It's not really a big deal.
Meanwhile my mom loves the email promotions she's signed up for (if only she would stop forwarding me ones every few days...), so something like this is great for her. Different strokes and all that, and it doesn't degrade my experience by existing. Seems like a win.
Email itself has transformed into its own thing, "somewhat tangential to traditional email". Email is now used for a host of interactions that extend far beyond its roots. GMail is adapting to meet those usage patterns.
I'm not calling your choice to move wrong - you may not use email for all the things the GMail is attempting to account for. But it would be foolish for GMail to stop adapting.
If it's just the newer interface that you dislike, Google still offers the classic Gmail inbox. It's what I personally use because it's at least twice as fast as the fully-loaded view and I never use any of the new features anyway. It sure beats actually paying for something like Fastmail.
That said, I find the tabs much more useful in the mobile client. One reason is that I only get push notifications for emails in my primary tab.
What did you move to?
Mostly native clients. And a provider that hosts in the same country I live in (Germany), that values my privacy, and uses green energy.
I don't understand why people don't use native clients more.
Every time I say I use Thunderbird people look to me like I eat soup with a fork or something.