Comments on: Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0: New calendar, better search

The newly named Mozilla Messaging subsidiary plans to ship Thunderbird 3.0 by the end of the year with comprehensive search abilities and the Lightning calendar built in.

[My-Self]

Thunderbird + Firefox

Looks like they're trying to integrate more Firefox features into Thunderbird unless it's the other way around. Why not push the logic to it's end, throw a web composer for good measure and ... celebrate the rebirth of Mozilla all in one suite !
And please,don't call it 'seamonkey 3' !

[bluemist9999]

Looking forward to Thunderbird 3

I already use Thunderbird 2.0 as my email client and have had good luck with it. It just works and is simple and elegant.

I'm looking forward to see what they can do with Thunderbird 3.0. I'd love to see Thunderbird make inroads in corporate environments.

[ccwsoftware]

Lightning? Please.

Sorry, but the last time I looked, Lightning was crap. If the MozFolk expect this to fly, the Sun people that are (allegedly) working on Lightning better be a high-end crew. For home use, I dislike Outlook, and I'm not really a MS fanboi -- but Mozilla has absolutely nothing to offer that even approaches it. Sunbird and Lightning are both crap, in comparison.

[Maclover1]

In features

yes. In price they win hands down. They dont need to match or exceed the features of Outlook, only get close.

Microsoft should know this game. Offer a product that has less features than the market leader and give it away for free until you win the market over. Like they have done in the past, and are doing with say Hypervisor vs WMware.

[rpupkin]

amen (and the address book sux too)

timely article for me - i just switched back to Outlook this weekend after 8 months of TBird. tried to love it, installed it on a lot of client machines, but TheBird is sadly deficient in a corporate environment. love the mail, no complaints. the Spamato addon is at least the equal of SpamBayes in Outlook. but the address book is pathetic (think WAB) and the calendar isn't even close to where it needs to be. the dealbreaker: Moz is basically incapable of syncing with smartphones. oh, you'll hear about 3rd party software ($) and 2-step processes, but that just doesn't cut it. and when it does 'sync' it's dodgy as hell.

i downloaded the nightly Sunbird builds for months but there didn't seem to be any traction. i'm glad to hear they're making a commitment to the calendar product, but if they don't make a similar effort on the address book i won't bother. so i'm stuck w/Microshaft.

[hotproffornow]

It's a matter of what you are looking for. I used Outlook in a large environment where almost everyone took a "stand-alone" approach bypassing all the shared features, except for the address book which was standard. In fact, we spent HOURS resetting options when the software was reinstalled or upgraded because everything sets to factory defaults. For the past three months, I;ve been using Thunderbird. I created multiple accounts each with its own inbox (easily done) and for the first time, I feel I am in control of my multiple email accounts. The calendar is basic and syncs with Google and Yahoo calendars - neither are favorites, but would work for individuals and small businesses. The task list is satisfactory. So, if someone is looking for a solid basic client, this is it -- clean, easy-to-use interface, and reliable.

Yes -- I would LOVE to see a good, solid, clean HTML editor like the old Netscape 4.8 added.

[247mark]

Already there

Spicebird is already working on an Outlook killer. Still in the beta stage but pretty impressive nonetheless.

Mark

[sanenazok]

IMAP Support

When should we expect full IMAP support in Thunderbird? Not being able to send e-mail directly out of Word is very annoying.

[ColdMast]

I'm liking a lot of the Mozilla projects

I've been using sunbird for awhile, and it is the perfect calendar application for anyone.

Thunderbird {in my go through} did not live up to my expectation of quick email, but once ThunderBird version3 comes out I give it another try.

I think Mozilla has been doing a great job, even their betas seem pretty stable compared to some applications.

[ColdMast]

"would you like to schedule a Canlendar event for:"

wow, your right, spicebird is a step in the right direction
http://cybernetnews.com/2008/01/05/spicebird-email-calendar-im-rss-and-more/
http://www.spicebird.com/

[frankwick]

Windows Live Mail

For work I use Outlook 2007. No choice.

For personal email, I have been through them all. I dumped Outlook Express and went through many other clients. Thunderbird competed with most and I stuck with it for a couple of years. However, it now feels old, the junk mail controls (which I once thought were top of the line) are now average. My latest pop client is Windows Live Mail (this is a separate download and not Windows Mail which is included with Vista). This is a superb email client (for a 1.0) release with multi-account functions, news, rss, etc... The junkmail controls in WLM are as good as those as the full-blown Outlook 2007. There are a ton of new user-centric features as well like photo-mail.

Whatever the Mozilla guys decide on, it needs to complete with the newest mail client from MS.

[ArtInvent]

A key part of the Linux ecosystem

On Linux, Thunderbird 2 is already the most robust email client. For managing tens of email addresses and identities, multiple servers, and vast back catalogs of messages, it's amazingly simple, easy, and powerful.

You have to see this where it actually fits in. There is a whole ecosystem growing around Linux where companies and governments and schools and other organizations are starting to realize enormous cost savings by not equipping hundreds or thousands of computers with the MS suite of Windows-Office-IE-Outlook, but rather going with something like Ubuntu-OpenOffice-Firefox-Thunderbird. It's true that OOo and Thunderbird fall behind in the nth degree of features and polish departments, yet they are still extraordinarily capable, and in fact more capable than 90% of users actually ever use.

With versions 3 of OpenOffice, Firefox, and now Thunderbird-Lightning coming to fruition in the coming months, the features gap with any MS apps will pretty much become irrelevant.

The final advantage will be the extensioning ability due to the open nature of the programs. This has already propelled Firefox past IE in functionality, it's starting to do the same for OOo and it will probably also happen for Thunderbird-Lightning.

[sourceview]

Transparent Encryption

As a small businessperson, I would like to see the thunderbird client be more business oriented, and this means setting up a transparent asymmetrical encryption process, whereby my company servers, using qmail or postfix IMAP can separate messages from my associates who have posted a public keyphrase in my computer, or is recognized by my server as a bonafide intraweb user. Thus, my postgresql database, along with dbmail could archive only those messages which are pertinent to the business, and spam is easily shunted aside according to company policy. This would eliminate spam, tighten up the rules on what must be archived for the Feds and under the new evidence rules. Facebook type sites could include the public key for friends, etc., and if the incoming email is from that source, the client would have the ability to accept or reject the message. Result: no one reads my messages unless I specifically allow it, and no spam.

[Kasiola2003]

Thunderbird and Calendar

I would love a calendar with Thunderbird. The calendar feature is still the only reason I still use Microsoft Office. Even more important than the word, excel ppt.I can get that with open office. Just goes to show, You can outfit a computer with all free software eventually.

[jeantonic]

TB 3 .0 + Lotus Organizer

I already use Thunderbird 2.0 as my email client for my numerous email with a lot of add-ons particularly WebMail and have had good luck with it. It just works and is simple.
I try to use sunbird or the calendar function on TB :-(
I would love a calendar, adress book, notes pages, todo, planning with Thunderbird as on my Lotus Organizer 6.1
The multiple calendar, multiple adress books and so.... features is still the only reason I still use Lotus Organizer.
The usability and the friendness more the look are absolutely fantastic. I use it for at least 10 years now and never have a problem.
It misses just an email client...
Unfortunately It's a long time that IBM had abandoned the development.
The MS outlook killer will be Thunderbid 3 or maybe 4.0 with the functionality of Lotus Organizer 6.1 and working on Linux too.
Simply the best

[raulmot]

Re: Thunderbird and Calendar

Can't you just use the Sunbird plugin with Thunderbird? Or are you specifically looking to plug it into an exchange server?

[dell1980]

Add a calendar

you can just add the lighting extension, there's even a third extension called provider which allows lightning to sync with Google Calendar

[smlinde]

Am I the only one...

...that doesn't want a outlook look alike?!

The only real complaint I had with the current version of Thunderbird was the address book would not move records... I would have to copy, confirm, then go back and delete, which was a pain. However, I've recently noticed that when I drag and drop the record moves, so one of the recent updates must have finally fixed that glitch.

<rant>
I don't want Outlook or anything that pretends to be like it. I won't use Evolution on a Linux box for the same reason. I don't want (or need) IMAP and I don't want Outlook (by any other name)... reading the comments here I guess I'm in the minority. It's really sad that folks can't break the m$ habit. Next thing you know someone is going to insist that activex and other assorted bad stuff be automatic with Thunderbird, just like Outlook.

I just want a fast, reliable email client. Having one that can also handle newsgroups (which Thunderbird does reasonably well) is a bonus. But then newsgroups have a lot in common with email, just the distribution method is different.

All the other, non-email crap, is just a pain and a waste. Mind you, I still insist on viewing email as plain text. I refuse html or images in my email and only create plain text messages. So I am so far out of the main stream today I don't expect anyone to agree with me. On the other hand you'll never get any nasty stuff onto my system via email...
</rant>

[NWLB]

Not so sure.

I have used Thunderbird for two years now. And the only thing I wished it did have, was an Outlook style calender and contact function. Indeed, I'd dump more of Microsofts software as soon as I can fully dispose of Outlook.

The goal is to bridge the gap between the two, let people migrate easily, and then, at that point, you can move away from what remains the dominate program out there.

The kind of instant revolution you call for doesn't happen most of the time. And if the world started today, with unlimited money, it would still be years before a solution would be found as you would like it.

I relate to the desire to see people break from a fixed mentality, but there is more to it than just following a leader.

[ikaruga2099]

Dethrone outlook? Not yet

"The new calendar ability makes Thunderbird a more viable competitor, particularly in corporate environments."

Not really. Most corporate environments are running Microsoft Access. Poor access support is what's holding me back from switching completely to Linux.

[BobNZ]

i aree with frankwick about windows live mail i stopped using outlook and thunderbird as i couldnt find a way to get my hotmail downloaded through it and windows live mail does that for me. this could be a great feature to be added to thunderbird if it isnt already

I'm glad a lot of progress has been made with Thunderbird. The Google Calendar and Google Contacts add-on makes it a very tempting competitor to Outlook. As an IMAP e-mail client, it is so much better than Outlook. Once I can figure out the e-mail searching issue, I'm switching over. I'm currently using Nelson Email Organizer for Caelo. If I can search 10,000 in under 1 second in Thunderbird, I'll leave Outlook forever!

[FewClues]

Good luck with loading Lightening - it tells me that its not compatible with Thuderbird 3.0 How did you test them together?

[simongr]

Same here lighteni it tells me that its not compatible with Thuderbird 3.0 How did you test them together... please advise if you can load it [e-mail]

[Pulse5]

Thunderbird is still far away form The Bat! I tried 2.0 version. I'm not a newbie but imho Thunderbird is very hard to use. Use The Bat! much better or at least try it!