@bram @Colby @dangillmor @MettEagle
I'm guessing Gmail would not have been interoperable for very long if email had been an "up and coming" protocol.
By the time Gmail launched, it was too late for Google to squash email. There were too many entrenched independent email systems in important places like universities, governments, organisations etc.
We don't have that yet with the Fediverse, though there are the beginnings of it (e.g. @EU_Commission).