Email is pretty much here to stay. It is more that users and organizations need to "learn" how to manage emails better. Furthermore, email might not be the main way of communication with your customers anymore, but still will be one of the main pillars.
This is one of the reasons, why I started my 6th company called Helpmonks (http://helpmonks.com) in this space. It simply helps organizations to collaborate on emails. My company is not the only one in this space.
This is a question that comes at the right time for me.
I just went two weeks with a Asus UX305 and Ubuntu 14.04. Everything worked out of the box. Beautiful hardware, too.
Since I run all my servers on Ubuntu LTS I really wanted to go with Ubuntu Desktop.
However, after two weeks I'm going back to MacOS X. Reason is that I'm just way faster with MacOS X. Additionally, and I hate to say this, but it is not the OS alone anymore theses days.
Applications can make or break your decision. Something like Sourcetree is awesome, Arq (for backup) is a simple no-brainer. The option to use Time-Machine and re-install a Mac is painless. Dash for documentation simply rocks, Slack as an independent app is very convenient, etc.
This is something I thought about it for a long time, too. I've been following this for years and was always suspicious about all the "free" services and what their motivation is behind it all.
Here is a list of apps/extensions I use:
- Firefox with disconnect.me, HTTPS everywhere, Adblock.
- Never EVER use Google for search. Always use DuckDuckGo.
- Deleted my Facebook account.
- Never ever use Skype (I refuse anyone who wants to use skype) There are other alternatives.
- Whenever possible I use a VPN (mine it privateinternetaccess)
- Never use any storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive, GDrive, etc.
Now that being said, I struggle with some "habits" and alternatives. These are:
- Google Apps, especially email. There is a reason why it works and so many people use it. I've tried Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Airmail, Outlook, etc. But somehow always go back to gmail :-(
On another note, I wonder what people use for an operating system?!?
I myself use MacOS X. I run many servers, all of them are Ubuntu Servers. I love Linux. However for a desktop app, I need to be productive and fast. Every time I want to switch to Linux I find some app that is not working and I need to use a VM for that.
Is it even worth considering a switch of operating systems? Too paranoid?
I run Ubuntu and can do just about everything with it. No regrets here.