[knowledge-clay]

> That’s all super fair, but they also argue this direction allows them to innovate as well.

That's true, but I would argue, perhaps somewhat conservatively, that email is an area where we don't want or need much innovation. Email works fine and has for decades. In many cases, "innovation" (except at the protocol level) has made things worse.

[swyx]

I mean, good for you, but all that proves is that you're not their target audience.

[knowledge-clay]

I believe that there is such a thing as good, responsible engineering practices, such as supporting open standards, that companies ought to to irrespective of "target audience". I'm not saying using IMAP is a better user experience and that everyone should use it, but I believe that any email provider has a responsibility to support IMAP.

[imchillyb]

I would argue that their non-standard implementation will make transitioning away from their service impossibly difficult.

The fact they don't support the widely supported IMAP means no easy way to move away.

This is vendor lock-in to their walled-garden. This approach should be killed, dead, before it ever makes it to the end user.

[bronson]

Transitioning away sounds easy: https://hey.com/faqs/#if-i-don-t-like-hey-can-i-export-my-em...

[wolco]

Lifetime forwarding if someone has a paid account? This will change in time. I wouldn't rely on it.