this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A Terminal Email Client As An Alternative To Gmail: The Old Dog Neomutt And Pals

A title like "A Terminal Email Client for Gmail As An Alternative To Gmail web: The Old Dog Neomutt And Pals" would be a better fit.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Hmm.

OK, so I haven't used Neomutt (or mutt) in ages, but I assume it's about as capable as aerc, which I do use. Aerc is an alternative to Gmail in a couple of ways:

  1. If you interpret the meaning the way you did, aerc can access a gmail account via IMAP, just like any IMAP client can. So it's a replacement for GMail web
  2. It can be configured to use notmuch, which is the most GMail-like interface to mail in that it indexes email for searching and uses tags instead of folders - like GMail. So it's a replacement for GMail in that it behaves the most like GMail without being backed by GMail (although, you can connect it to a GMail account email corpus if you like).
  3. It can talk to any IMAP server, so it's a replacement for GMail in the purest sense: there is nothing GMail involved.

I suspect Neomutt is equally capable; I've just always disliked the UI.

What were you expecting? A promo for ProtonMail, or a replacement as in, "hey you can go here and register an email account, so it's a replacement for GMail?"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Because

  • gmail has a simple web ui
  • is an integrated service you often accidentally get
  • a service and a client
  • does not need installation

And so much more

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Isn't that what makes it an "alternative" and not a "clone"?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Gmail is a service. A client is a client. A client can't be an alternative to a service just like Firefox can't be an alternative to Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't be pedantic. It's obvious the OP is referring to the client portion of Gmail, not the service portion.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 months ago

The title says:

An alternative to Gmail

If the title is misleading, the problem is not on my side.