Ask HN: Alternatives to GMail?

8 points by KaeseEs 12 years ago | 7 comments

I've gotten fed up with the UI changes that been made to (inflicted on) gmail in the last two years or so; new compose is the last straw. What are some good alternatives? SSL, non-"flat" UI and a good thread/conversation view are my only musts, skins/themes are a nice-to-have.

czottmann 12 years ago |

I can recommend https://fastmail.fm/ which has been a really solid experience for me over the last few months. The UI is quite nice—see Mike Masnick's write-up for some screenshots.[^1]

Their servers are located in the US, tho, which might be a cause of concern for some—but that wasn't part of the question. (Personally, I will be probably moving my mails off of FM for that particular reason.)

[^1]: http://www.maxmasnick.com/2013/07/19/fastmail/

workhere-io 12 years ago | |

Here's another review of FastMail (shameless plug): http://blog.workhere.io/my-experience-with-fastmail-as-a-gma...

DarkStar851 12 years ago |

I'm fortunate enough to have the resources to run my own email server. I host a few VMs on a dedicated server and had some space left for a Zimbra 8 installation.

I hate to promote pay-for's, but their Open Source Edition is still very flushed out.

If that's any interest to you, I'd be happy to host a few accounts. Canadian servers so standard CIRA and Canadian Privacy Protection Act rules apply.

workhere-io 12 years ago |

Domains at https://gandi.net include IMAP (1 GB). Combine that with Thunderbird or Sparrow and you're good to go. Another option is FastMail.

anxious 12 years ago |

IMAP. Or search for previous Ask HNs, there are dozen on the topic.

czottmann 12 years ago | |

> SSL, non-"flat" UI and a good thread/conversation view are my only musts

Your answer "IMAP" doesn't _entirely_ fit here.

workhere-io 12 years ago | | |

IMAP + Thunderbird fits his requirements, as far as I can see (although I'm not sure what he means by non-"flat" UI).