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by rglullis 2993 days ago
Sorry, it is still decentralized.

- Even if it were true that "everyone uses Google/Microsoft/Apple/etc", the ones that don't can still send/receive emails from everyone else. - If one of the of the big providers disappear, the system as a whole will continue to function.
2 comments
hudon 2993 days ago
If all centralized providers disappeared and I had to send a message to my friend, I wouldn't setup my own SMTP server... I'd just send him an iMessage. Or I'd post to a Slack group. The system without centralized providers is useless to most people using it today because no one wants to learn how to setup a mail server when there are dozens of alternative messaging tools.

As for the few that do have the capacity to setup a mail server, they would only be able to message others that also have the capacity to setup a mail server (again we're assuming no centralized providers and thus no delegation of this task to a trusted party). So maybe the system would still work for this niche group... but then we get into the bigger question: are there entities today that control the Internet and do they have the capacity to shut down systems like email? Tor?

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StreamBright 2993 days ago
I am pretty sure if Google disappeared we were going to see a huge drop in the email traffic. How would I get to know the new email address of my friend who we only talked using Gmail for example?
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y0ghur7_xxx 2993 days ago
> How would I get to know the new email address of my friend who we only talked using Gmail for example?

Call him up on the phone or message him on whatsapp or... whatever...

email IS decentralised. Even if we had ONLY gmail, a startup could implement a better email frontend and be successful.

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freehunter 2993 days ago
How do you call someone on the phone if you only ever talked via Gmail and suddenly don't have any of those messages anymore?
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StreamBright 2993 days ago
Exactly. I have many of these.
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rglullis 2992 days ago
I think you and the one that I responded to are confusing the abstract nature of a system with its practicality. As much as Google would like to, they can't simply close their email servers for outside addresses and still call it an email provider. It would be a whole different beast.

The fact that you don't get to talk with other people only because an big email provider would disappear does not change the fact that email messaging systems are designed to be inter-operable. That is the key point. To try to argue otherwise is insane.

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