[kwlug-disc] Does anyone want to take over Thunderbird?

[B.S.]

Be 'fair' ... gmail is non-standard, and a moving target. Thus only google will 'get it right' (for their definition of right, == non-standard), never mind across platforms, like web / chrome / android / chromecast. And, thus, the web interface.

By definition, then, others will never be able to 'do it right.'

Nature of the beastie unless and until google strictly adheres to the rfc's - and they've shown zero inclination to date to doing so. I don't expect that will change any time soon.

<sigh>


----- Original Message -----
> From: Andrew Kohlsmith (mailing lists account) <aklists at mixdown.ca>
> To: KWLUG discussion <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 1:19 PM
> Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Does anyone want to take over Thunderbird?
> 
>>  On Dec 1, 2015, at 12:02 PM, Jason Locklin <locklin.jason at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>>  The writing's been on the wall for Thunderbird for a long time. 
> It's a
>>  shame, though, as I've tried several other clients many times and 
> always
>>  came back to Thunderbird. I absolutely detest webmail -you lose so much
>>  in the trade-off for not having to spend 5 minutes configuring a client.
>>  That 5 minutes, though, seems to mean that email clients are becoming
>>  extraordinarily niche. Even people who like to tinker seem to be
>>  switching to self-hosted webmail rather than using clients.
> 
> I too detest webmail. I also detest “not mine” email services, which is why the 
> last time I’ve ever had to change my email address is when I registered 
> mixdown.ca 15 years ago. Vertical integration is where it’s at. :-)
> 
> Back on topic though… yes, I have not found a GOOD email client. When I ran 
> Linux on the desktop I used kmail. On Windows I used Thunderbird for a while but 
> it was suffering the same hideous bloat that Firefox has suffered. Outlook sucks 
> the least, but it’s still awful. I did try a couple closed-source email clients 
> that ran on Linux but they seemed to fail for lack of support and likely lack of 
> audience. On a mac (my current desktop) it’s the built in mail client which is 
> passable. I’ve started using pine/mutt a number of times as the idea of 
> text-only email appeals to me, but it just doesn’t seem to scratch the itch.
> 
> I briefly used Squirrelmail just as a “zomg I need email and am not at my 
> computer” kind of use case, but it was always kind of blah. I wish there were an 
> OSS email client that worked well on the three major platforms and perhaps even 
> a mobile version but it’s a very hard thing to do right. 
> 
> And to drive the point about “hosted by others” email being crap… gmail has been 
> having an awful lot of trouble lately with my phone. Their IMAP gateway seems to 
> be flakey. If gmail can’t even do it right, how can I trust anyone else to do it 
> right?
> 
>>  On 01/12/15 11:28 AM, CrankyOldBugger wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
> http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/12/thunderbird-a-tax-on-firefox-development-and-mozilla-wants-to-drop-it/#p3
>>> 
>>>  In short, Mozilla wants to unload Thunderbird so its devs can
>>>  concentrate on Firefox.
>>> 
>>>  I found this a tad upsetting as I used Thunderbird as a replacement for
>>>  Outlook on my Windows machine, and I find Thunderbird to be a very good
>>>  Linux mail reader.  I also have the Enigmail addon in Thunderbird for 
> my
>>>  encrypted stuff.  I also have the necessary addons to get Thunderbird 
> to
>>>  manage my Google calendar.
>>> 
>>>  Conversely, I recently decided to switch from Chrome to Firefox and to
>>>  be honest, I'm not impressed with Firefox.  Buggy stuff, especially 
> when
>>>  dealing with Google pages.
>>> 
>>>  And, as the article states, Mozilla hasn't been developing actively 
> for
>>>  Thunderbird other than security fixes.  Which really doesn't bother 
> me
>>>  too much as I like the program the way it is.
>>> 
>>>  http://alternativeto.net/software/mozilla-thunderbird/ shows 
> Thunderbird
>>>  as being way out in the lead for user preference for mail clients.
>>> 
>>>  What is everyone here using for mail/calendar/encrypted mail/etc., 
> these
>>>  days?  Is there a better alternative to Thunderbird that's 
> cross-platform?