Thunderbird 1.5 RC2 released, gets shinier

Ok so I lied: Thunderbird isn't really any shinier, I just thought that headline might make C.K. download it faster on his quest for a Mail replacement. But seriously, it sounds like they've made some significant updates with RC2, when I thought release clients were simply about squashing bugs. Among the list of updates: better automatic updates, spell checking as you type (how 'bout it Firefox??), redesigned options UI, improvements to podcasting and RSS, built-in phishing detection and more. These sound like nice upgrades to an app that reportedly (and I agree) beats the pants off of Mail in the IMAP department. Still, as Hawk Wings points out, Thunderbird's inability to play well with lots of other OS X apps, lack of applescript support and just plain "butt-ugly" UI can tarnish the Thunderbird experience for some OS X users.

Me? In my journey for Mail alternatives, I'm slowly settling into the Gmail way of things. It's certainly a new experience going from a desktop app to a web-app, especially for something as intensive as handling the army of email I collect in a day's time, but Gmail does most of the things that I was using Mail plugins for, such as MailTags. Plus, since Gmail went mobile, I don't necessarily need to keep my PowerBook glued to my head 24/7 to keep on top of things, so it's been working out so far.

At the end of the day though, it's nice to see another large choice in email clients besides Mail and *shudder* Entourage, especially since Thunderbird has a few unique tricks like RSS reading up its sleeve.

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Source: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5.htm…

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Ok so I lied: Thunderbird isn't really any shinier, I just thought that headline might make C.K. download it faster on his quest for a Mail...

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Jennie

I can live w most of Entourage, but drives me completely crazy--the fact that each time it checks whether I have mail, there is this double (because I have two accounts) rubber-band noise. I have all sounds off, yet every ten minutes: thwang, thwang. Can anybody release me from my thwang thwang hell? Does Thunderbird make noise?

January 07 2006 at 5:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Alex

If Thunderbird synced with Address Book and iCal, I'd use it rather than Mail in a second. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Extension, anyone...?

December 28 2005 at 7:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

almostwise

I want to like Thunderbird, especially since it is the only Mac OS X ap that currently syncs with Plaxo, but the lack of vCard support is a killer.

December 27 2005 at 9:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Thomas

I can't wait for the new TBird to go official 1.5!!

If interface is your issue, there are themes. I've found Mail and Mail Tiger themes that work ok.

Oh and spell check as you type in Firefox is in the plans for future versions.

Oh and I don't like Entourage as it seemed clunky. I hated the fact I couldn't get rid of the names on the buttons, the checking mail window always popped up and it just felt unfriendly. I like TBird because I can customize the heck out of it!!

December 27 2005 at 5:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Paul

Well in hot fudge sundae's name..
Entourage vs. Apple Mail.
One databasefile versus seperate messages.
Problems with Entourage's stability and increasingly larger boxes. Crashing, loosing mail.
2004 latest updat still has serious bugs - even cooperating with Exchange.
Crashing mailbox (auto-doubling up.. loosing mail)
Well... what other reasons do you need NOT to use Entourage and turn to something useful?

December 27 2005 at 4:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Christopher

Cool, thanks, I love that app. I tried Entourage but just couldn't get into it

December 27 2005 at 11:30 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

schwa

OK, seriously -- what in the name of hot fudge sundaes is everyone's problem with Entourage? I've tried every other mail client I could find for OS X that isn't sickeningly overpriced (I'm looking at you, MailSmith) and I always come back to Entourage, because the others are horrible. I'm not a fan of Entourage's aging interface or its non-integration with Address Book and iCal, but people seem willing to give Thunderbird a pass on that. What's up with the Entourage hatred? Is it just Microsoft-phobia, or what?

December 27 2005 at 11:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply