<story><title>Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)</title><url>https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/email-identity-provider.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kelnos</author><text>And this is why, back in 2007, I registered my own domain, and signed up for then-free Google Apps for Your Domain (then GSuite, Google Workspaces, whatever they&amp;#x27;re calling it now).  Earlier this year I moved my email to Fastmail, and I can move it elsewhere if I want to, with zero disruption or downtime.&lt;p&gt;I &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; wish email providers would make custom domains either the default, or a very obvious option when signing up.  Google is already a domain registrar, and other providers could partner with one.  Granted, this option would not be free (though Google could probably swing making it free; they just wouldn&amp;#x27;t let you use the domain for anything else unless you start paying for the registration), so that would reduce its desirability for most people, unfortunately.&lt;p&gt;(On the downside, I wish I could convert my GSuite account to a regular Google Account, because GSuite accounts are occasionally crippled in random ways, and now I&amp;#x27;m not even using the email part of it anymore.  But that&amp;#x27;s a separate complaint.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pjerem</author><text>&amp;gt; though Google could probably swing making it free&lt;p&gt;Even if it was cost-effective for Google (which I doubt), it&amp;#x27;s not going to happen because it would mean that, to be effective, Google would have to allow you to transfer it out of their hands (to change your provider) and thus, it would also mean that you could basically use Gmail to hold domains for free.</text></comment>
<story><title>Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)</title><url>https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/email-identity-provider.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kelnos</author><text>And this is why, back in 2007, I registered my own domain, and signed up for then-free Google Apps for Your Domain (then GSuite, Google Workspaces, whatever they&amp;#x27;re calling it now).  Earlier this year I moved my email to Fastmail, and I can move it elsewhere if I want to, with zero disruption or downtime.&lt;p&gt;I &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; wish email providers would make custom domains either the default, or a very obvious option when signing up.  Google is already a domain registrar, and other providers could partner with one.  Granted, this option would not be free (though Google could probably swing making it free; they just wouldn&amp;#x27;t let you use the domain for anything else unless you start paying for the registration), so that would reduce its desirability for most people, unfortunately.&lt;p&gt;(On the downside, I wish I could convert my GSuite account to a regular Google Account, because GSuite accounts are occasionally crippled in random ways, and now I&amp;#x27;m not even using the email part of it anymore.  But that&amp;#x27;s a separate complaint.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Gareth321</author><text>&amp;gt; I really wish email providers would make custom domains either the default, or a very obvious option when signing up.&lt;p&gt;They don&amp;#x27;t because it creates huge friction to leave. They&amp;#x27;ll have to be mandated to do this, and I think they should be.</text></comment>