Yes and no.<p>The thing about gmail is not its services as a email server, but that you basically have to use Google&#x27;s site or apps to access the email.<p>Yes, there is imap support. But as best i understand it, the implementation is &quot;idiosyncratic&quot; to put it mildly.<p>Similarly, Google used to run a IM service using XMPP. But then they killed the federation feature (allowing other XMPP services to communicate with Google&#x27;s users), and then phased the whole service out for Hangouts.<p>Facebook also used XMPP for their IM service, but has since also disabled it.<p>Thing is that as long as they were using XMPP, i could have Pidgin sitting in the corner and keep up with friends and family on either service. Now it have to run 2-3 apps (and non of them are available for desktop Linux) to do the same.<p>While it may not be a sleepwalk, it sure edges close to &quot;bait and switch&quot;.