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I, too, sympathise with Bill's sentiments. Google and to a certain extent Microsoft walk a thin line between protecting their users' privacy and putting money in the advertisers' pockets. Fastmail, offering no free services, can stand firmly on the side of their customers. That's why I've been a Fastmail customer on and off since 2002.
However, times are changing, and email is not the only game in town anymore, as it was 15 years ago. My wants and needs have changed, and I now need (or want) cloud storage for my files, photos, and videos as well as email and calendar. Throw in an (online) office suite, and you have 95% of my needs covered right there.
Yes, Google does cover all of the above bases for free (or paid, through G Suite), but so does Microsoft through their Office 365 suite (for a considerably smaller price than G Suite). And I don't mind paying, because I dislike ads as much as Bill and many others on these forums.
So I'm paying $7.50/mo for an Office 365 Home subscription. That gives me a licence to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access on 5 PCs/Macs, 5 tablets, *and* 5 phones (including Windows, iOS, and Android). More than enough to cover the entire family.
And in October 2017 Microsoft decided to throw in a premium, ad-free subscription to Outlook.com (the email service) at no extra cost. Included is also 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) storage on OneDrive for each of the 5 included licences.
All of the above devoid of any advertisement for $7.50 per month.
This is not meant to be a shameless plug for Microsoft or Office 365. I'm just a customer. My point is that for $5/mo I get one Standard account at Fastmail and only that. For a few bucks more, I get 5x all of the above. I'm not *that* enthusiastic about email anymore, and I don't fiddle around with all the nerdy/powerful settings Fastmail offers anymore like I used to, so the value proposition of Microsoft far exceeds Fastmail for my needs and wants currently.
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