Are you sure? My employer uses gmail, which I access via Mail.app exclusively. I bet I open the web app maybe once or twice a year, usually by clicking a link in a calendar event.
It's perfectly possibly to use gmail-the-service without using gmail-the-app.
I do the same - I use Safari for Google services (since Apple is unlikely to collude with Google), I use Chrome to browse Facebook (since Google is unlikely to collude with Facebook), and I use Firefox for actually browsing the web.
It's totally OK not to like Mail.app, of course, but I'll still posit that you choose to use Gmail in your browser. You don't have to. You do have alternatives, but prefer your current multi-browser workflow.
Again, that's perfectly alright! Just remember that if you reach the point that you can't stand it anymore, you do have other options available to you.
If you have a "zero inbox" type approach, I find Mail.app to be serviceable, but to each their own.
There are a few others to try. I used Airmail a few years ago. However, be on the lookout for "native" email clients that are really just web gmail wrappers.
Sounds like you've made your choice. A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics. No need for my input here. But it is your choice.
> A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics.
Using gmail doesn't automatically make them a bad employer. That is incredibly shallow and naive.
This mentality does nothing to help "software ethics" since it forces people to make an extremely unrealistic choice. I wouldn't expect anybody to quit their job over their employer using gmail. You're just pitting more people against the idea of standing up for software ethics by making it about extremes.
It is akin to telling someone, after an oil spill, that they don't care about the planet since they didn't immediately sell their car to quit buying gas.
This is the cheapest kind of hand-wavy, recriminatory internet "discourse". It's shallow, content-free, and leaves you feeling like the good guy for talking shit about other people's choices, which you've examined on exactly one axis.
I'm glad for you that you've found such a clear moral compass, but the world is, in my experience, rather subtle and complex.
I didn't mean to come across as "talking shit". I think almost all people (myself included) would prioritize their job over software ethics if forced into that situation.
But, what do you use for personal email? To avoid these kinds of issues I've been running my own mailserver for about 5 years.
Are you sure? My employer uses gmail, which I access via Mail.app exclusively. I bet I open the web app maybe once or twice a year, usually by clicking a link in a calendar event.
It's perfectly possibly to use gmail-the-service without using gmail-the-app.
I find Mail.app to have a terrible UX, but I did try it, thanks.
My standing solution is to use one browser to log into big-G services, another to log into FB, and a third for everything else.
> My standing solution is to use one browser to log into big-G services, another to log into FB, and a third for everything else.
Check out Firefox container tabs.[1] You can isolate sites within one browser and save the associations between containers and tabs.
I use container tabs along with multiple Firefox profiles (for different combinations of browser extensions).
[1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers
I do the same - I use Safari for Google services (since Apple is unlikely to collude with Google), I use Chrome to browse Facebook (since Google is unlikely to collude with Facebook), and I use Firefox for actually browsing the web.
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It's totally OK not to like Mail.app, of course, but I'll still posit that you choose to use Gmail in your browser. You don't have to. You do have alternatives, but prefer your current multi-browser workflow.
Again, that's perfectly alright! Just remember that if you reach the point that you can't stand it anymore, you do have other options available to you.
Have you tried Firefox's multi-account containers? They might be more convenient than using multiple browsers.
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If you have a "zero inbox" type approach, I find Mail.app to be serviceable, but to each their own.
There are a few others to try. I used Airmail a few years ago. However, be on the lookout for "native" email clients that are really just web gmail wrappers.
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Have you tried mailplaneapp.com?
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At least you can stop using Chrome, right?
Sounds like you've made your choice. A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics. No need for my input here. But it is your choice.
> A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics.
Using gmail doesn't automatically make them a bad employer. That is incredibly shallow and naive.
This mentality does nothing to help "software ethics" since it forces people to make an extremely unrealistic choice. I wouldn't expect anybody to quit their job over their employer using gmail. You're just pitting more people against the idea of standing up for software ethics by making it about extremes.
It is akin to telling someone, after an oil spill, that they don't care about the planet since they didn't immediately sell their car to quit buying gas.
This is the cheapest kind of hand-wavy, recriminatory internet "discourse". It's shallow, content-free, and leaves you feeling like the good guy for talking shit about other people's choices, which you've examined on exactly one axis.
I'm glad for you that you've found such a clear moral compass, but the world is, in my experience, rather subtle and complex.
I didn't mean to come across as "talking shit". I think almost all people (myself included) would prioritize their job over software ethics if forced into that situation.
But, what do you use for personal email? To avoid these kinds of issues I've been running my own mailserver for about 5 years.
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