Mozilla mail as in Gmail.

[user2024]

With all the things going on in BigTech, is it not time for Mozilla to think about building further on Thunderbird by providing email services?

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[Jon]

Similar idea here: Expand relay to create full mozmail E-mail 

[Ponda]

I was pondering at this idea as well. It should be relatively easy to set up with all the existing open-source software and could give Mozilla easy money, though more research is needed in this area. The problem with paid version is that it would be hard to compete with something like Proton Mail, which even in free version has only one weakness: can't be used with third-party e-mail clients, such as Thunderbird.

[EcoNomad]

Would love to get away from Gmail so this would be a good alternative if done right.

[user2024]

Dear@Ponda,
I was thinking the exact same competitor when I was writing this suggestion. It is a competitor indeed. In the meantime, there are examples in the past where a second product which was similar to another, worked in favor, not against adoption of both.

Proton mail is focused on safety and security. This might be a reason they do not have access for third party clients to download messages. In that sense, there is certainly room for "Mozilla mail".

However, we should keep in mind that such a move would come as a response to increased authoritarianism exhibited by the Big Tech complex. They are actually the complex that Dwight Eisenhower would have advised against nowadays.

The 2 tier censorship scheme they have in place, or the double standards in other words, is a disgrace.

[s1fly]

I would agree in principle for this but as @Ponda quite rightly mentions, Proton Mail already achieves this and mozmail.com is still blocked on some forms. 

What might work better is a partnership between Proton and Mozilla where Proton can add value to Firefox and Thunderbird. So mail and calendars are a good start, but Proton also recently made their VPN add-on free for users. 

On the other hand, Proton has indicated interest in building a browser, creating even more competition for Firefox, that it probably doesn’t need right now. 

There is a partnership there somewhere that works well for both, I’m sure.

[user2024]

Dear @s1fly ,

Thank you for taking the time to write.

I consider the issue of the blocked domain irrelevant. It may be bypassed.

Any partnership is always subject to third party risk and vulnerabilities. In addition, I have already responded to @Ponda 's comment but it seems it is stuck in moderation. In that response, I provide some valid points which also address some of your concerns. Perhaps moderators can release my previous comment.

However, the few comments that I have received so far, reflect a web 2.0 architecture mentality with regards to a possible implementation. If I were in charge and would be responsible to give some direction, I would definitely go web 3.0.

Again thank you for taking the time to engage with my proposal.

Best regards.

[yoti]

interesting proposal. I prefer self hosting stuff rather than being the guinea pig of large tech companies. but an email server takes more effort than I'd like to put into it so I do end up paying some service to host my mail. but it's pretty crap, not nearly as reliable and good at spam filtering as say, Google. it'd be nice if Mozilla provided this service. I'd be very happy to pay Mozilla to host my mail server.

[Ponda]

My post seems to be lost for some reason, although it was mostly recalled by other participants. I agree there might be a place for Mozilla to become a mail provider, but it should be carefully considered how to best play the role without competing with privacy-friendly providers such as Proton and Tutanota but rather cooperate and compliment each other. There very well might be a place on the market for something privacy-friendly, but more open, interoperable etc. at the cost of some security, but caution and in-depth research is highly recommended.