Yes, that's what I was told when I made similar comments about IE only websites years ago as well.

How short of a memory does this community have if they don't understand what comes after "embrace" and "extend"?

So the guy who wrote it uses gmail. There's no ulterior motive there. Just a person who uses gmail who wanted to use it in vim

Oh certainly no ulterior motive, but these things never have ulterior motives, just good people not doing what they should. I was just curious why it wouldn't be just as easy to make it use imap rather than being gmail specific. The idea of making an email client that only worked with email addresses from a single domain would not even have occurred to me.

Sometime more specialized/specific is better.

For instance, Gmail does support IMAP but also has non-IMAP features. Being too abstract would mean avoiding providing these features.

Another point is the easiness of installation/configuration/usability. For instance, with Emacs, you can use GNUs to read gmail. However, it is so generic (you can read usenet news and any kind of e-mail), that it's really a pain to get started. There are terminology confusions (i.e. you need several hacks to have a gmail-like inbox) and overall, it just doesn't feel like g-mail..

Also, by starting very specific for our own problem, it's easier to create a meaningful product that solves a real need. (Like startup!) I think it's easier to start specialized and then grow larger, than start too brood.

Gmail has several unique features that generic clients don't live up to.

I also assume this community understands what the word "FUD" means and how it relates to this post.