I'm leaving gmail.com and gmail.app because of how hard they push AI with no way for me to opt out. I've been using them for many years.
(I might continue to use my gmail address using POP3 to third-party client software.)
I'm a fairly heavy user of LLM services, but don't see the value of "help me write" or "summarize this" or "happening soon" (Gmail's attempt to insert itself into my relationships with shippers and delivery services).
I’d love to ditch the multiple google mail accounts that I setup for nonprofits, but I worry that google is better at catching spam and fishing than the competitors. I use outlook for another, but MS is insanely unfriendly to newb users and their spam filters don’t work as well. Any suggestions?
I will probably return to Emacs/VM as my client, a very old version (5) of VM specifically. For hackers only.
Using a desktop email client is my preferred way to use email. I can read them even offline.
I'm hard pressed to think of a situation where a desktop app isn't superior to a website. Web apps are a port in a storm; if I can use a desktop app, I always prefer to.
Gmail has no desktop app, though it has mobile apps.
The web or PWA Gmail has more features and settings than any third-party desktop app would offer when using IMAP or POP. Gmail is a custom-designed first-party app. If you read mail from Google through Outlook or Thunderbird, it will have lowest-common-denominator features through the lens of a different vendor's structure.
Now you may consider it a superior advantage if the Gemini AI isn't available, but probably won't be able to create custom filters without the PWA.