The discussion around email continues to come up time and time again. It yields significant power, it's your online identity effectively, used to access, communicate and unlock everything. We all have some level of discomfort with someone else owning the infrastructure for this having seen what happens if you get locked out. What is the answer? Is it really self hosting? Such a subpar experience. Consumers can't be expected to do that. Maybe it's about moving to something else with backwards compatibility with email but a system you can never be shut out of. If you're stuck with a @gmail.com domain, it's tough, but maybe the switch would be worth it in time.

Maybe it's like rent vs buy in real estate. There's no beating owning your own home. Costs more but no one can kick you out unless you stop paying your mortgage. You own it, it's your address, it holds all your possessions. But you don't build the house, someone else does, you just pay for it.