I wouldn't put it past them. I'm currently leaving Google (the last jigsaw piece is gmail), but would almost encourage google to charge so that people can snap out of it and find a better alternative.
Any gmail alternative suggestions? (I'm fine with paying if they are a good long term bet).
Depending on your needs, some of the cheaper alternatives focused on privacy and located in Europe are:
* Posteo.de (no custom domain support)
* Mailbox.org
* Runbox.com
* Mailfence.com
If a service located in the U.S. is not a concern, then mxroute has great options for multiple domains and multiple mailboxes.
Services like Fastmail and Hey become quite expensive if you need more than a couple of mailboxes (not aliases). ProtonMail and Tutanota, though privacy focused, can also get expensive for multiple mailboxes. While ProtonMail has some support for IMAP on paid plans, Tutanota does not support it.
Moving away from Gmail is an hassle, but it's ultimately eady. What I can't do without is Maps. There's no real alternative (I don't know about Apple Maps, don't own an iPhone), nothing gets even close to Google Maps.
I'm in exactly the same boat. Currently trying HERE WeGo, it's okay. I think it's going to come down to reminding myself that Google Maps is not always as polished as it appears.
OsmAnd and also Organic Maps are great, I have them installed and use them regularly, specially for non-commercial walks, like parks, etc. But Google Maps has much more information on restaurants, bars, shops, hospitals, post offices, pharmacies, hotels, carshops, etc... And the reviews are also priceless when browsing restaurants. Also navigation wise, knowing speed limits, current traffic (I know, I know, the paradox of data sharing), toll-free roads, searching for exact addresses are much much better on Google Maps. For me, of course!
I use fastmail.com and it's been a really good experience, to be honest it doesn't have all of the features that you can find on Google Workspaces but I didn't use most of them anyway. They also support multiple custom domains.
I also use Fastmail. I think I've been using it around 5 years and haven't had any issue. They added throwaway email addresses recently which has been helpful.
I use paranoid.email as my personal email. Sure you have to use pgp keys, but if you follow all the steps you’ll be fine. When it’s all said and done paranoid is definitely the most secure email service I’ve used next to I2P Bote.
I believe mailbox.org let's you do the same (upload a private key with which all unencrypted mail will be encrypted). And they let you use it with your own domain.
I think it's a great feature that more hosts should offer. Actual deniability, what's not to love?
You'll find better answers than I can give based on searching here and searching "Degoogle". I've just rapidly said goodbye out of frustration and am using suboptimal stuff while I work it out.
Re: Google Photos, I actually would have paid Google for extra photo storage as their app is, of course, good. I would have paid out of convenience. But they started demanding I send them my passport and utility bills before I could do that. I understand they likely have their policies and reasons, but can you believe that? I have to send them my passport and data just for the honour of paying them? Straw that broke the camels back.
I already have a Prime account so I just let Amazon scoop up my photos until I find a better alternative. It's actually not bad (has "group by face" and stuff, but not as clean as Google - but maybe I've not delved into it enough). To me, same big tech nonsense, but at least Amazon actually support the customer (support is good vs non-existent at Google) and they let me pay them without requiring my dental records.
> But they started demanding I send them my passport and utility bills before I could do that.
They wanted me to send them ID so they'd let me look at an "age restricted video" on youtube. Namely a compilation of every time Samuel L Jackson says "motherfucker" in his first 10 movies or so.
