And people who host their own email server complain all the time that Google and Microsoft centralized email and set their own (often opaque) rules on what gets delivered.

Therefore, 'Gmail for Mastodon' would seemingly just swing the pendulum back towards centralization.

> 'Gmail for Mastodon' would seemingly just swing the pendulum back towards centralization

Nobody outside a select few want to host their own server. And nobody wants to research which server to join, before they’ve experienced an ounce of product benefit, nor how to back up their data. This was always going to be centralised to a degree. But Gmail/Outlook with some Proton/Fast is distinctly better than Twitter, Musk or no Musk.

which is why email is a bad analogy.

email adoption was fast because it was a gamechanger compared to faxes and telegraphs. ISPs offered inboxes, as did universities and offices, years before Hotmail arrived.

Additionally, people got email because they wanted to communicate with friends. People get on social media mostly to escape boredom, not intentionally communicate with stranngers.