But yes, in a way convenience can drown out freedom. See that other
thread in this mailing list about mail providers. All people flocking
to gmail although it's clear that Google would like to kill mail
as we know it.
But mail as "they" know it has nothing to do with transport or networking. They know it as a service not as anything else. Like electricity. The "freedom" to exchange email is what matters to them.
Just about everyone in the developed countries permits and is ok with their electric/telecom/heating service coming from a monopoly, oligoploy, or government-owned entity. So the same situation for email is ok with them as long as the cost is low.