1. There are several alternatives, but usually not free. One example is protonmail, that I use with a custom domain so I can still switch provider without having to get everyone to change the address they use to contact me.
- You can import your emails, but it might not be realistic to import all your history. It's going to take ages and fill up your new account quota. So what I did is first do a cleanup of my gmail history (remove things like mailing lists, promotion emails, etc) then export only the last year. I can still log to gmail if I need to access an older email.
- You can't expect everyone who has your old gmail address to know your new email address, so you need to accept to live with a forward from gmail potentially forever
- Most services will let you change your login email address, some won't. In this case you can either create a new account or accept to keep the gmail account as login.
"You can't expect everyone who has your old gmail address to know your new email address, so you need to accept to live with a forward from gmail potentially forever"
You wouldn't if there were an international telephone-like directory. We seem to have forgotten that this was the actual function of old fashioned paper based telephone books.
As I see it, it's imperative that something like this be established as it's the first step in unshackling ourselves from being permanently locked in to Big Tech. Similarly, we need portable email addresses and
portable IDs that we can use anywhere and with any service. As this HN news story illustrates, we need these more than ever and we need them soon.
These won't be easy to implement as Big Tech will oppose them every inch of the way. For starters, we'd need legislation that would enforce Big Tech to compulsorily use these IDs. As Big Tech is in the pocket of governments, this won't be easy.
Thank you! I'm aware most alternatives are paid, also aware that I'm paying Google in other ways for their free service. I became honestly a bit vary about any provider - including ProtonMail - but I guess I can only choose from what is being offered :)
- You can import your emails, but it might not be realistic to import all your history. It's going to take ages and fill up your new account quota. So what I did is first do a cleanup of my gmail history (remove things like mailing lists, promotion emails, etc) then export only the last year. I can still log to gmail if I need to access an older email.
- You can't expect everyone who has your old gmail address to know your new email address, so you need to accept to live with a forward from gmail potentially forever
- Most services will let you change your login email address, some won't. In this case you can either create a new account or accept to keep the gmail account as login.
2. I really want to know more about that too!