I have no special information, but the reason I pay for Fastmail is that they don't give me any of the indications that most companies do that they'll trend towards enshittifying. The main factors that lead me to think the risk is low are:
* Despite a buyout by Opera, the company's employees bought it back in 2013. This indicates passion.
* They're privately held, so they don't have to chase quarterly earnings reports; they can focus on the product instead of the stock price.
* They've been operating in the email domain for 25 years, and their other products (TopicBox, POBox) are in the same realm technically. This isn't a company randomly throwing ideas at the wall to make money.
* They charge customers for their product, so they are not looking for a revenue stream, they already have one.
I'm also highly vigilant for companies that will screw me, but Fastmail is way at one end of my risk spectrum because of the above points. I would be astonished if they would risk alienating their core audience by shifting focus away from a good email service...after all, that's their core competency.
* Despite a buyout by Opera, the company's employees bought it back in 2013. This indicates passion.
* They're privately held, so they don't have to chase quarterly earnings reports; they can focus on the product instead of the stock price.
* They've been operating in the email domain for 25 years, and their other products (TopicBox, POBox) are in the same realm technically. This isn't a company randomly throwing ideas at the wall to make money.
* They charge customers for their product, so they are not looking for a revenue stream, they already have one.
I'm also highly vigilant for companies that will screw me, but Fastmail is way at one end of my risk spectrum because of the above points. I would be astonished if they would risk alienating their core audience by shifting focus away from a good email service...after all, that's their core competency.