Gmail Is Quietly Removing the Exit Door. You Should Be Terrified.
Gmail dropping third-party email support isn’t a technical update — it’s an enclosure strategy. Google grew dominant by being the best aggregator of everyone else’s email, and now it’s using that dominance to eliminate choice. The real premium feature being removed isn’t third-party access. It’s the ability to leave. Email is the last open protocol, and it’s being quietly redefined from a standard into a Google-controlled product.