Ask HN: Is a self-hosted email client with SaaS backend compelling? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Is a self-hosted email client with SaaS backend compelling?

4 pointsswanson5 comments

Host your own web-based email client but you use a SaaS provider (Mailgun, Rackspace, Amazon, etc) for the actual sending and receiving. Basically treat them as a "dumb" IMAP endpoint; a middle ground between using Gmail and hosting your own mail server with DKIF/SPF/spam/etc. If your provider starts doing sketchy stuff, you can "hot-swap" to another and keep the same client.

Is this a compelling idea?

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@swanson Can we exchange E-Mails? I was planning to do something like that, but with going a step further, by eliminating the E-Mail client and replacing it with the required transport-protocols for xmpp and building a smart architecture around it with a QML UI.

I am really really frustrated about E-Mail!

I have multiple E-Mail addresses, lots of HAM, zero SPAM (no spam filter). The UX is bad, not touch friendly, slow, repetitive. Ugh.. I don't know where to start complaining, but I have tried many many E-Mail clients, they all suck more or less. Only Sparrow was ok, but it's a) for MacOnly b) Google will probably close it.

I have hundreds of RSS Feeds in Thunderbird letting it become a real resource hog. I use thunderbird for that because of better tagging and search support. I symlinked my Windows and Linux thunderbird profiles so that they are synced. (Need Windows for some CUDA and other 3D dependant stuff only :/ )

Caveat: I can't start before August due to my thesis.

Potentially. I've been thinking recently about what keeps my company on Google Apps (roughly a dozen people) despite the appallingly bad customer support and several major nagging and unresolved bugs.

The single biggest factors are gmail filters and priority inbox. I get an extraordinary amount of ham, and rely on both of these to give me a fighting chance of keeping up. I'm confident I could probably find a replacement for filters, but am much less confident re priority inbox. If a standalone solution offered robust equivalents for both, I would seriously consider migrating, and would probably be willing to pay a 50% premium over what we currently pay Google.

One shop's opinion, FWIW.

Filters are pretty easily replaced with Sieve and Sieve-Manage. At least anecdotally they have adequately replaced them for me.

I'd be interested in knowing about people doing that too :) I am bit tired of Google these days...

Just use anyone else. Start tonight.

You solution does not have to be The Solution for Life. Perfection is the enemy of done.

If you don't like Google, use anyone else.

If you have your own domain (and you should), then no one will notice as you slink from provider to provider in search of something better.

pairnic.com for domains, or anyone but godaddy. You can change later if you don't like whoever you end up with.

fastmail.fm for mail, or anyone else. You can change instantly if you have your own domain.

Do it now.

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