It's about time. Thunderbird, to date, has been a disappointment when compared to its place in the email client sector, compared with Firefox's place in the browser sector.
I haven't seen it or read the features yet, but I hope they have made real progress as I would be delighted to find a decent email client for my desktop.
Thunderbird 3: Near-final version due next week
Summary
Thunderbird 3, an update to the email software Mozilla hopes will give it some of the advantages its Firefox browser has enjoyed, is due to arrive in near-final form next week.
Topics
Thunderbird 3, an update to the email software Mozilla hopes will give it some of the advantages its Firefox browser has enjoyed, is due to arrive in near-final form next week.
Mozilla Messaging plans to issue release candidate 1 of Thunderbird 3 as soon as Monday, with the final version expected later in November, the email-focused subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation said on Thursday.
"We're down to the last few bugs," said chief executive David Ascher. "Feedback with the last beta was enthusiastic." Thunderbird 3 beta 4 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac and Linux.
For more, read Thunderbird 3: Near-final version due next week" on CNET News.
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Just downloaded it and it does have promise, but the only automatic import of addressbooks is Outlook Express, not Outlook even. I had to import my outlook files to Outlook express and then to Thunderbird.
This is an area that needs to be looked at, but apart from that, my first impressions are favourable.
Ampers.
This is an area that needs to be looked at, but apart from that, my first impressions are favourable.
Ampers.
I find Mozilla's Thunderbird far more superior to Microsoft's Outlook. Lighter and better.
Too bad they aren't spending enough resources on its development.
Too bad they aren't spending enough resources on its development.
Three times I've attempted to setup Thunderbird to be my email client and three times I've gotten less than half-way into specifying all the email accounts, processing rules and folder setups when it crashed and took out 3/4 of the work I did as well as most of the emails that had come in from setup to crash.
At least I'd had the foresight to set the "do not delete from server" options so that Outlook at least retrieved them without loss.
Oh, and this was three different versions under XP Professional, Vista Business, and finally Windows 7 Ultimate.
Having been involved with microcomputers for well over twenty years, to have this much trouble setting up an admittedly complex email system should not be fraught with such chaos.
I do love Firefox though. But Thunderbird is simply not stable yet. Maybe it is for a single email account and limited rules and folders.
At least I'd had the foresight to set the "do not delete from server" options so that Outlook at least retrieved them without loss.
Oh, and this was three different versions under XP Professional, Vista Business, and finally Windows 7 Ultimate.
Having been involved with microcomputers for well over twenty years, to have this much trouble setting up an admittedly complex email system should not be fraught with such chaos.
I do love Firefox though. But Thunderbird is simply not stable yet. Maybe it is for a single email account and limited rules and folders.
This sort of stuff happens here all the time. Someone makes a claim
and someone feels compelled to disprove via their experience. I've
done it, myself and the thing is, everyone's more or less right. For
whatever the gp is looking for, Thunderbird succeeds and for what you
were looking for, it failed.
Maybe it's time to add "One size doesn't fit all" next to the "No Such
Thing as a Free Lunch" placque.
My opinion: if I have a LInux machine, I'm going to use Thunderbird.
On Mac, Mail.app. On Windows, if I have to pay, Thunderbird, but
otherwise Outlook is okay by me.
My one knock on Thunderbird, which comes from a time I used
it to set-up a computer-phobic employer, was that it lacked an out of
office feature. This is the first time any one has heard me mention it
because the obvious response would be "It's open source, dude, you
know some C, go knock yourself out." I'm sure that would have built
character.
Maybe out-of-office is in 3, maybe it's already implemented. What's
that other placque on the wall? Oh, yeah, "All Things Come to Those
Who Wait."
and someone feels compelled to disprove via their experience. I've
done it, myself and the thing is, everyone's more or less right. For
whatever the gp is looking for, Thunderbird succeeds and for what you
were looking for, it failed.
Maybe it's time to add "One size doesn't fit all" next to the "No Such
Thing as a Free Lunch" placque.
My opinion: if I have a LInux machine, I'm going to use Thunderbird.
On Mac, Mail.app. On Windows, if I have to pay, Thunderbird, but
otherwise Outlook is okay by me.
My one knock on Thunderbird, which comes from a time I used
it to set-up a computer-phobic employer, was that it lacked an out of
office feature. This is the first time any one has heard me mention it
because the obvious response would be "It's open source, dude, you
know some C, go knock yourself out." I'm sure that would have built
character.
Maybe out-of-office is in 3, maybe it's already implemented. What's
that other placque on the wall? Oh, yeah, "All Things Come to Those
Who Wait."
Out-of-office replies can be programmed easily, not by throwing some C-code to the problem, but by using the rules options. It has been there all the time, but you have to look it up in the help files to know.
Since Thunderbird 3 was still called Shredder,
and it has NEVER crashed on me. The problem is
either something else that you are running on
your machine, or the service that you are using
has a problem with Thunderbird.
GMail has/had a problem with Thunderbird a few
years ago, but they fixed it a long time ago.
As to it being 'for a single e-mail account and
limited rules and folders'.... nope. I have
about 30 people with their business e-mails on
the SAME COMPUTER at work, and it downloads the
300 to 400 e-mails a day just fine to all those
accounts.
Now, the problem could be that you are putting
in too many 'rules' for your e-mail account.
Try leaving those rules out or making the
account and THEN putting the rules in.
and it has NEVER crashed on me. The problem is
either something else that you are running on
your machine, or the service that you are using
has a problem with Thunderbird.
GMail has/had a problem with Thunderbird a few
years ago, but they fixed it a long time ago.
As to it being 'for a single e-mail account and
limited rules and folders'.... nope. I have
about 30 people with their business e-mails on
the SAME COMPUTER at work, and it downloads the
300 to 400 e-mails a day just fine to all those
accounts.
Now, the problem could be that you are putting
in too many 'rules' for your e-mail account.
Try leaving those rules out or making the
account and THEN putting the rules in.
They should have made lightning part of the base package instead of leaving it as an add on. And I can't for the life of me figure out why they didn't make the address database just like gmail's. They should be striving to be the 100% seamless desktop client for gmail if they really want their adoption to improve.
I'd like more PIM features in more of these clients . . .
The thing about Outlook is its integration and fist-class support of calendar, TODO list, notes, and contacts. And the ability to sync all of those with my devices. Why can't anybody else do that?
The thing about Outlook is its integration and fist-class support of calendar, TODO list, notes, and contacts. And the ability to sync all of those with my devices. Why can't anybody else do that?
I've been using this since it was called "Shredder Alpha
1" and it was awesome even back then. Fast, stable and
almost IMPOSSIBLE to infect with malware.
1" and it was awesome even back then. Fast, stable and
almost IMPOSSIBLE to infect with malware.
I use Thunderbird 2 with the Lightning plug-in as a single user in Linux and it's always just worked. My main reason for using it (versus Evolution: my previous email program) is that I can copy the files to another computer running Linux or Windows XP, use Thunderbird there, and copy the files with new emails back to my main machine without any ill effects.
I'm still not clear on whether Lightning will be integrated in the Thunderbird 3 release, Also, how will Thunderbird 2 be upgraded to version 3, and when will we see a Thunderbird 3, 64 bit version, released. I wish the development team was a bit more public and gave us some kind of a timetable for rolling out the new features. Something like, we are bringing out Thunderbird 3, 32 bit, on December 25th, but integrating Lightning in it was too hard, so we're releasing a 32 bit Lightning plug-in in early March 2010 and don't hold your breath for a 64 bit version before 2011, would be just fine; at least I'd know where I stand.
I'm still not clear on whether Lightning will be integrated in the Thunderbird 3 release, Also, how will Thunderbird 2 be upgraded to version 3, and when will we see a Thunderbird 3, 64 bit version, released. I wish the development team was a bit more public and gave us some kind of a timetable for rolling out the new features. Something like, we are bringing out Thunderbird 3, 32 bit, on December 25th, but integrating Lightning in it was too hard, so we're releasing a 32 bit Lightning plug-in in early March 2010 and don't hold your breath for a 64 bit version before 2011, would be just fine; at least I'd know where I stand.
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