[intsunny]

I'm amazed at how email server software is innovating and evolving like never before. We have new implementations of SMTP, IMAP, etc. We even have new protocols like JMAP thanks to the Fastmail guys.

But it also feels like fewer and fewer people are running their own mail servers. Everyone seems to just outsource it to Google or Microsoft. I'm also surprised at how many engineers barely understand how email works. (IE: I have to show them what email headers are and the useful info that can ne found there.)

[keyle]

That's because email delivery is such a weird dance. It's getting harder every year to have your mail delivered without being part of those few services since the protocol is abused so much.

[Nextgrid]

To be fair, you can relay through those services to work around the delivery problem. It's still better than nothing since they now only see your outbound mail, but inbound mail processing & storage is still local & self-hosted.

[afavour]

Email is in its own category in this regard, IMO.

I love to throw out a library and implement something myself so I gain a better understanding of what’s going on and maybe even improve on what was there before. But I can’t do that with email. Other servers are going to accept or reject my mail solely based on what my IP is, irrespective of how good my implementation is or is not. I’ve just never found it worth the time to dig into.

[HHC-Hunter]

Quite frankly, it's just not worth the time or maintenance.

[Grimblewald]

You'll eat your words once your only option is corpomail.