Someone had recommended me Skiff, but I stayed away from it and opted for Proton, given that they have been around for a while and Skiff smelled like VC money too much. I guess it was the right choice.
At this point, a criteria I try to follow when I have to choose whether or not to rely on a tool is: is it funded by VC? If so, steer clear.
I was considering Skiff or Fastmail. Skiff was just over a year old with over $10 million in VC funding. Fastmail is 20+ years old and is funded by their own subscription fees.
I was concerned Skiff would be looking for a buyer eventually and things would change for the worse. Definitely didn't expect a full shutdown though.
Proton paid plan is around 10$ a month so it isn't cheap. But cheap isn't sustainable.
Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acWkkLaEsrU (Proton CEO interview)
Especially for my personal life where long term really means long term, self-hosted is the only safe option.
As an employee it's a toss up on whether your employer or your SaaS dependency changes course first. So a shorter term engagement is basically guaranteed and it doesn't matter that much.
I still remember when Optical CD claiming 30+ years lifetime -- they failed, but they tried
life insurance policy exists too