[entity345]

A very long comment that ignores the one it purports to reply to...

Microservices are called that because they reside within an app that itself provides a service. Otherwise, of course you could call everything and anything 'microservice' but then the term would become meaningless.

[detaro]

GMail (or any other email offering) is "an app" from many perspectives.

[entity345]

Yes, it is an app. Not a 'microservice'. That's the point.

[detaro]

An app containing many services handling individual, separated aspects of the overall app, connected by queues and standard protocols. Many pieces interchangeable with others. If you'd hide the fact that it's e-mail and wrapped a bunch of HTTP/gRPC around it you could easily sell the same architecture to people as "a messenger build on microservice principles".