this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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Google confirms Gmail is “here to stay” amid speculation over plans to scrap the email service::Claims that Google plans to sunset Gmail were a hoax, so there's no need to panic

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[–] [email protected] 190 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Gmail is the gateway to their entire product portfolio; no way they’d kill it.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 8 months ago (2 children)

All it takes is one MBA with little foresight in the wrong position - the Gmail team is all expense (server hosting, labor), and no revenue; that's the "Ads" and "Drive/One/Business" teams.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The MBA. The only graduate degree you can get by attending class 3 days a month.

How some of these MBA programs can be considered a “masters” degree is an insult to people who actually had to spend years on 40-70hour a week graduate programs.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The program cost for the executive MBA class entering in July 2023 was $205,897, which includes tuition, required electronic textbooks, hotel accommodations during immersion weeks and core course sessions in terms 1-3, administrative fees, and most meals during residence periods.

(Emphasis mine)

They are just straight up purchasing a degree at this price point.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Pretty much. There are cheaper alternative, but there are lots of ways to get a “masters” while still being able to hold down a 9 to 5.

No fucking way I could work while doing my masters in interaction design. Only way to way to do that was to take out a student loan because the program required even more commitment than full time undergraduate course work.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Remember. There is no such thing as free. They’re data mining the hell out of your email. You can rest assured that gmail is a revenue generator. Just in ways you don’t see.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

You are awfully confident about a company that kills things like a Russian dictator. I think what perhaps you mean is there's no way they'd kill it now. If they wanted to push users to some different type of platform they would certainly entertain the idea.

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[–] [email protected] 110 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Google getting rid of gmail would have to be hands down one of the biggest internet shakeups since its inception. Gmail has been the de facto free email service for almost two decades now. They have like a 53% market share of emails in the U.S.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Also the shitstorm it would cause, when you can't access an account that you used Gmail to sign up.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Maybe it would finally force the surprising number of websites out there that don't allow for email changes to change their policies. I recently switched every account I could to a personal domain and I couldn't believe how many just don't allow for it.

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 8 months ago (2 children)

With the terms of service for their “anti spam” and “productivity auto-sorting” features, they must gather SO much data about people by reading their emails - there’s no way they’d turn that off lol

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (9 children)

Ugh, I've gotta switch from Gmail, any good email recommendations?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago (8 children)

Proton mail is the peak email service money can buy (it's also avilable for free but i suggest paying)

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I dunno Google has a cancelation tick so like i wouldn't be that surprised

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I would imagine Gmail is the primary reason people create an account with Google.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Yeah that and youtube I'd think

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[–] [email protected] 89 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I mean... I don't expect them to scrap GMail, but their reassurance means nothing. IIRC they said the same thing about Stadia.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago

They make too much money from data harvesting to scrap Gmail, though.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago

Stadia was destined to fail though. I still remember the key note in which it was introduced. The CEO started with the lines "I don't play many games, but ... ".

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Why would they voluntarily lose access to all my personal information?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They have enough to train an AI version of you and already predict your actions. Tracking real you is just boring now.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For the time being the compute required to simulate me is more expensive than tracking the real me.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 8 months ago (17 children)

I just now created a Proton mail account just minutes before seeing this. I think I'm glad I did.

I've been thinking about de-googling myself for some time now. After being with them since they created the Gmail service in the early 2000s, I practically have my whole adult life on Google. I've been using drive and photos as well for as long as it has existed. It's going to be a lot of work to sort through all of this data and start over on a new service.

I don't trust Google anymore over anything. Whether it's privacy (though I was pretty naive to think I had any in the first place) or their ability to keep a service up long enough for anyone to commit.

It's a shame because they started as a really nice company with their do no evil motto with great services and then everything went to shit. Even their killer feature, the search engine, has become complete shit.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Killing Gmail would be like killing search or youtube, they would NOT dare.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, I'd drop Fi, Pixle, and use of Google in a second. Gmail is the backbone of everything Google is. Had it since day 1 and will have it until it disappears, and then I will disappear into the woods forever.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's funny that most comments here are debating this seriously when the article (that apparently nobody bothered to read) clearly says it was a hoax.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Doesn't matter. It's in the aether now that "Google promised Gmail won't go anywhere," so it will definitely be eliminated. People believing a Google product won't be discontinued is the Google product kiss of death.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 8 months ago (10 children)

Any of these large business coming out to explicitly say "this will not happen" is concerning.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago

Especially Google who is famous for randomly getting bored of developing and then suddenly cancelling services

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Gmail is untouchable. That more than any other product has kept me tethered to Google since 2004. That being said I wouldn't be surprised if some greedy, future regime at Google botches it up.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The biggest thing holding me to Google is Gmail and photos.

They scrap Gmail and I'm literally out. No more Google accounts, except to use an android.

Google offers very little value to the consumer these days

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (6 children)

I bought a domain and started using it for all my email last year. It’s the best and I suggest it to everyone.

The combination of your own domain, Fastmail, and Bitwarden is powerful.

You can move email services by changing a few DNS records and Fastmail has an API that Bitwarden hits to create new masked email addresses using your domain so every site gets a different email address. Start getting spam? You know exactly who leaked/sold your info and you can now send that address right to the trash.

Is google photos free?

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Next week: "Google scrapping gmail."

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago

One thing that's very clear to me is that when a tech company says something is "here to stay," it doesn't actually mean it's here to stay.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I’m starting to worry Lemmy users read the article at a lower rate than redditors.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Of course it is. I know Google scraps a lot of things, but Gmail is for the most part liked and, far more importantly to Google, is an absolute treasure trove of personalised, easily parsable data, yet nowhere near as costly to maintain as, say, YouTube.

The fact that after making search, an email provider was their next big project, shows how serious they are about it.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Why does anyone think Google would shut down Gmail? You'd have to be stupid to think that they would shut down the most used email service on earth, one that is deeply integrated into Google as an ecosystem.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Google does have a reputation for unnecessary and/or prematurely killing everything it makes so I wouldn't blame people for believing an email that looked like it was from Google saying that Gmail is shutting down in August

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

They shut down services that aren’t profitable. Gmail is highly profitable as it’s an important lever to identify people’s interests, which they use to sell ads at a higher price. They’d have to be stupid to shut it down.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Next week: Fires 60% of the gmail staff

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Exactly what a company about to shut down their email product would say.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This would really be the ultimate fuck you to everyone if they did this. I sort of wish they would so we'd all stop giving them all our personal data.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Stupid question: what the shit do you do with your 15 years of communication history if your email provider falls off a cliff?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I fully expect GMail to be enshittified in the future.

"GMail through gmail.com and GMail App: Always Free"

"GMail Pro (IMAP/POP/Forwarding): Only $3.99 / mo"

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Oh thank goodness. Ya know I trust Google, when Google speaks it's always true. They're very not evil. And this definitely isn't a fun way to lessen the blow of an announcement that would be so.. displeasing to the masses.

/$

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Too bad I'm degoogling as we speak.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

Why do I feel like them saying this makes it MORE likely theyre going to shut it down?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago
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