Weeks after the launch of its Firefox 1.0 Web browser, the Mozilla Foundation on Tuesday is set to release version 1.0 of its Thunderbird e-mail client.Source: MacCentral
Special note to Windows users: Thunderbird uses the Mozilla rendering engine to display HTML e-mail messages, not Microsoft's IE engine, making it immune to IE-related bugs.
After only about 5 minutes of use, I really like Thunderbird 1.0. It has all the features I like about Entourage. It has the 3 column layout that Entourage 2004 and Outlook has, it even has the search bar at the top right. Reading RSS feeds in Thunderbird is just like reading email.
The default spam filter of Thunderbird 1.0 is a little touchy. It thought all my mailing list emails were spam. I also wish by default Thunderbird would leave the messages on the server the first time it retrieves your mail. You have to go into the account settings before you retrieve your mail and tell it to keep the mail on the server. Apple's Mail seems to be the only email client that by default leaves your mail on the server. Kudos to Apple, I wish others would realize how nice a feature this is.
Comments (3)
I think it used to be on by default in the early releases, but that was probably because TB wasn't that stable and the developers were worried that testers would lose all of their email. It's probably better turned off though because some email providers have quite tight quotas on their accounts and leaving all email on the server is one good way of filling up that quota quickly.
In any case, I use IMAP for my email. As well as my own machine, I use several others so it's nice to have my mail centrally co-ordinated.
Posted by Neil T. | December 7, 2004 8:58 PM
Posted on December 7, 2004 20:58
I need to add to this, but I have a quiz in the morning.
What I meant about keeping my mail on the server by default: I like to try out an email app before I commit to it. This I want to keep using my current email app (Entourage), and just see how the new one (TB) performs. Other then that, sure I understand email space on a server is finite.
I have worked with TB a little more, and have some more observations. I will post more about it tomorrow.
Posted by Ken Edwards | December 8, 2004 12:11 AM
Posted on December 8, 2004 00:11
Ah, but the question here is should one design software with the intent of having the end-user simply try it? I think it's simpler to pull all the messages off the server by default so that every simple-minded user who decides he or she likes your software doesn't have to be instructed on how to make their e-mail work like they expect.
Posted by Peter | March 18, 2005 1:58 AM
Posted on March 18, 2005 01:58