There is no perfect email setup
And creating your own is near-impossible.
You could say I was excited when I saw the news this summer that Basecamp, a remote work management company, was launching its own email service to compete against Google’s Gmail, Microsoft’s Outlook, and other big dogs. Hey, the plucky little privacy-focused email client & backend was going to “revolutionize the way we use email,” and be a “game changer for email and owning your time.” That is, if you believe the testimonials. In reality, Hey is just another upstart email service with a few gimmicks, a semi-decent client, and an expensive price tag for the luxury of having to start all over down the same damn road.
I’ve been using Hey now since June, right after Apple temporarily blocked its app from the app store because Basecamp didn’t allow customers to buy its service in-app through Apple’s payment processor. Meaning, that users would have to purchase their accounts outside of Apple’s ecosystem and Hey would be able to avoid Apple’s 30% cut on purchases. The same cut that’s gotten Apple into hot water with Epic Games, Match Group, and Spotify. After Hey had been restored to the app store, I made an account, and in a leap of faith, bought the $99/year plan to maintain my custom email. “Why pay for email?” you may ask? Because I needed a fresh start.
I’ve had my Gmail account since middle school. It’s the first email account I ever made. Over the years its become my main everything account. But, after eight years, it’s filled up. I can’t even check it anymore. The rate at which I get new emails makes even Google’s AI stutter and shake. I needed a fresh start, with a new service, because I don’t want another Google account, and all that comes with it to manage. Hey seemed like a good answer. Basecamp wasn’t going anywhere, I wouldn’t have to think about keeping my domains, SMTP server, or accounts running, and I liked the domain. I have a great email now, that has my name in it. I don’t get questions about what my email means anymore, or having to hope the weird spellings in my old email come across over the phone. I don’t use all the features, and I swear I’m already messing it up with how many new emails I keep getting, but it’s a start. Even if the service is not worth $99/year.
There is no reason for you, the personal consumer, to spend $99/year on an email address. Especially when there are so many other options that give you cloud storage, productivity software, and just work with any app or client you’ll ever need to scratch your feature itch. Hey says on its pricing page that it’s considering lower prices for developing markets, but more than likely you’ll never see that if you live in a region where you’re comfortable spending money on an email address. Realistically, this is a product for companies who don’t want all the services Google or Microsoft offer with their accounts. What these companies are, willing to turn down free coud storage and easy access to thousands of workplace apps, evades my perception. Unless you’re a person who thrives on digital clout everywhere it bubbles up from the brimstones of hell, this email account isn’t for you.
Still, I think I’ll keep paying for my account come next billing cycle. It’s nice to support a company working on improving an open standard, rather than trying to kill it. And who knows, maybe they will crack email. It’s not easy, or cheap, or smart to build a whole new email service, but they did it as a small company, which shows they the drive and hopefully the know-how to forge ahead.
Where I’ve been
Leave it to me to pick this year, of all years, to cover politics and journalism. After three weeks of constant writing and research I was burnt out. Being online, being social, promoting, marketing, all that which comes with trying to be a digital writing doesn’t come to me naturally. I like writing, talking about weird ideas, and having conversations; not marketing.
This summer hasn’t been easy in terms of finding time to write about contentious subjects. My main focus is on my personal health, the health of my family, and the emotional wellbeing of those closest to me. In the end, that took up the time I usually allot to this newsletter. But, now, with a job, and some level of stability in my life, I’m back. I won’t promise weekly, or bi-weekly posts. I just promise posts, eventually. I want to keep writing here, and I don’t plan on moving to another platform, or building my own. I like Substack. As a company and as a platform, and see this as the future and current home of all things Ham Typed. That being said, I want to get back to technology. Politics is fun to write about until you realize everyone’s an idiot including you, and there’s no point trying to pretend you’re not. At least, with technology, I’m comfortable being an authority figure, and won’t accidentally mislead anyone. It’s accountability, as a writer writing about the real world, that is the dread that fills my heart as I hover over the publish button. These are serious times we live in. I don’t want this to be another depressing, misleading, hopeless mess of a writer’s work.
So I’m back. If you really want to know when I’m going to publish, email me: tristan at hamtyped dot com. It’s my public email for this blog (not my Hey email) and I’ll try to respond to as many things as possible. If you’re looking for a schedule, you’re not gonna find it, but I’m going to try and publish at the end of the week/weekend as a rule of thumb.
I’ve missed you. I really have. I hope we can continue to experience the world together.
A look at your progress
Recently, I’ve gotten into Andrew Sullivan’s new Substack. Each week, it hosts a “View From Your Window” contest, where readers of his newsletter guess where a staff member has traveled to each week. Since I’m not fully remote, I thought maybe we could share with each other what we’ve been working on each week. It doesn’t have to be technology related, or indoors. A garden we’re maintaining, a book we're reading, or a problem we’re solving are just as welcome as some code. Please, feel free to email me about what you’re working on at: tristan at hamtyped dot com or respond to this email. I’ll sort through what you send and each week we get enough new submissions, I’ll highlight them in the newsletter and open a discussion post for all of us to talk about collectivly.
I think it’d be a nice way for all of us to get to know each other and build some friendships along the way.
Last but not least
I hope you’re safe, healthy, and being smart. Halloween is coming up, which is my favorite holiday, and I hope you can find a good way to enjoy it and make your community feel a little bit like everything’s normal.
*Promotional image and logo taken from Hey.com
*Gardening photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash