Newbie wants to exit Google apps set up email etc.
debating if i'm crazy to think i can set up my own server / email or should depend on outside service. want privacy seems like it's sketchy unless you set up your own server... thoughts?
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https://www.fastmail.com/signup/personal.html
http://blog.fastmail.com/2013/10/07/fastmails-servers-are-in...
Note that just because your servers aren't in the US, doesn't mean they're out of reach of the NSA's surveillance apparatus.
As a sender, you can exert some control of these things, like encrypting your communications but that only works if the person receiving the email is willing to decrypt it. Setting up your own email server doesn't change that either.
For other apps like word processors and spreadsheets, it is of course very practical to set up these locally using FOSS or commercial alternatives. Once you share them by email of course all email issues apply.
TANSTAAFL. Good luck.
After 6 weeks I can say that Fastmail is by far the best and I'm sad I didn't try them sooner. The only thing that's missing (IMO) is Exchange-compatible push email (you can do push if you use their app, but if you want to use another app it's POP or IMAP pull). The interface is lightening fast, as is sending and receiving email, and their blog shows a great technical understanding of their product (and it's based in my hometown so happy to support local businesses!)
(this would have been a few years ago though, so YMMV)
As with all homebrew things, it is possible. The only caveat is the time spent hardening the server, and time is always against us, my friend.
Origin Shield: You don't want the raw IP of a box anywhere near the public Internet. Attackers can scan for IPs if they want an IP, but they should never have to simply ping a server and its IP is in plain sight.
Auto-update: The box should respond to the current threat landscape. There was a massive uptick in sysadmins logging into old and forgotten boxes when Heartbleed came out. You want to be able to auto-patch and very rarely (if ever) SSH into a box.
Those are just two of the things I've learned the hard way recently, and yeah; they're probably obvious low hanging fruit stuff. But the list goes on...