I was long waiting for a comparison of mail apps for OS X. But at some points I miss something in this article or I do not agree with the article.
First, in the part of Postbox I miss a note that Postbox is based on Mozilla code. Thats why Postbox is obligated to publish the applications source code.
The current version of Postbox is based on a Gecko version from April 2011.
But, I was really shocked about the comment "…there is little reason for most users to choose Thunderbird over Apple Mail". I was so shocked about that comment that I’ve joint Appleinsider to post a comment!
First, you are maybe right that the UI needs an overhaul. But Mozilla is working on that. You will see a slightly new interface in Thunderbird 31. The reason why this takes so long is, because Mozilla has not so many developers that are working on the TB UI and even less for OS X. But everybody is welcome to help! And this brings me to the points why I like TB:
1. It is open source. So everybody can look into the code and modify it. Everybody can open a bug at bugzilla and add a new feature or a piece of code. Everybody can help and contribute to Thunderbird. So, complaining is not the right way. If you do not like something in Thunderbird, open a new bug and fix it. This is not possible with most other email apps.
2. Thunderbird can be used on Windows, OS X and Linux. So, you can easily move your account from Thunderbird on your old Windows PC to your new Mac.
3. You can modify it in a lot of ways. You can install Add-Ons or Personas. Or you can modify it with own files (userChrome.css, userContent.css, user.js).
4. It is based on the same code as Firefox. So it always includes the newest code with all security fixes and with all new code implementations.
5. For me, it is easy to use and (nearly) all features I need are implemented. For instance it is a lot easier in TB to use HTML signatures than in Apple Mail.
Well, I have now moved (over the holiday period) completely from using Eudora for the last about 15 (?) years to PostBox (in anticipation for moving from OS10.6.8 to Mavericks) ... and I am very pleased with the move. PostBox is very Eudora-like, it has a superb optional VERTICAL-view layout (which has become my preferred viewing mode), and nifty RESPONSE buttons for when you have to send the same response to people again and again ... rather like access to an easy template ... but it has made my email life much easier.
I did have a problem with getting it SAVE my sent messages to the SENT folder ... but their support people have solved that one for me. So am I very pleased with the move.
There are a few things that niggle me with PostBox:
1. Emails seem to take a long time to arrive (after starting up PostBox)
2. I would prefer the Dock item to bounce when emails arrive (at least as an option)
3. I would like to customise the EMAIL HAS ARRIVED sound (to make it the Eudora sound - lol)
... but these are small issues (that will hopefuly get resolved) compared to the big picture that I now have a decent and modern email app again, and one that properly formats HTML.
I am really trying to like Unibox...or perhaps I should say "understand" it. While I love the clean and refreshing interface, I've been a Gmail user for years, so my workflow is based on unanswered email in my inbox.
I try to stay near inbox zero, but if I have 20 emails in my inbox...they can't be found in Unibox because there is no inbox...or at least I haven't found it yet. I get the Unibox concept, but where are my current inbox messages? If a few of them are six months old...they're just not findable in the left column of Unibox.
Another good option is Inky (http://inky.com). Very simple, modern, flat UI. I use it on Mac and also can access the same set of email accounts easily on Windows due Inky's cloud-based account setup. It's also got some interesting new sorting and automatic filtering features.
There are a lot of us "dinosaurs." Perhaps if we all stuck together we could get someone to do the surely not impossible and create an application with the simple direct usability of Eudora that meets the criteria of the new systems and beyond so we could stop this idiocy of having to change something as basic as email with every system upgrade.
I seem to have huge trouble getting Apple Mail to connect to my Exchange service (whereas I haven't had the same issue on my MS Surface with Windows 8.1), despite having all the correct settings on-hand.
It might be time to look at one of these alternatives. It's a shame Unibox is IMAP only - presumably it doesn't play with Exchange.
Comments
I was long waiting for a comparison of mail apps for OS X. But at some points I miss something in this article or I do not agree with the article.
First, in the part of Postbox I miss a note that Postbox is based on Mozilla code. Thats why Postbox is obligated to publish the applications source code.
http://postbox-inc.com/coveredcode
The current version of Postbox is based on a Gecko version from April 2011.
But, I was really shocked about the comment "…there is little reason for most users to choose Thunderbird over Apple Mail". I was so shocked about that comment that I’ve joint Appleinsider to post a comment!
First, you are maybe right that the UI needs an overhaul. But Mozilla is working on that. You will see a slightly new interface in Thunderbird 31. The reason why this takes so long is, because Mozilla has not so many developers that are working on the TB UI and even less for OS X. But everybody is welcome to help! And this brings me to the points why I like TB:
1. It is open source. So everybody can look into the code and modify it. Everybody can open a bug at bugzilla and add a new feature or a piece of code. Everybody can help and contribute to Thunderbird. So, complaining is not the right way. If you do not like something in Thunderbird, open a new bug and fix it. This is not possible with most other email apps.
2. Thunderbird can be used on Windows, OS X and Linux. So, you can easily move your account from Thunderbird on your old Windows PC to your new Mac.
3. You can modify it in a lot of ways. You can install Add-Ons or Personas. Or you can modify it with own files (userChrome.css, userContent.css, user.js).
4. It is based on the same code as Firefox. So it always includes the newest code with all security fixes and with all new code implementations.
5. For me, it is easy to use and (nearly) all features I need are implemented. For instance it is a lot easier in TB to use HTML signatures than in Apple Mail.
Well, I have now moved (over the holiday period) completely from using Eudora for the last about 15 (?) years to PostBox (in anticipation for moving from OS10.6.8 to Mavericks) ... and I am very pleased with the move. PostBox is very Eudora-like, it has a superb optional VERTICAL-view layout (which has become my preferred viewing mode), and nifty RESPONSE buttons for when you have to send the same response to people again and again ... rather like access to an easy template ... but it has made my email life much easier.
I did have a problem with getting it SAVE my sent messages to the SENT folder ... but their support people have solved that one for me. So am I very pleased with the move.
There are a few things that niggle me with PostBox:
1. Emails seem to take a long time to arrive (after starting up PostBox)
2. I would prefer the Dock item to bounce when emails arrive (at least as an option)
3. I would like to customise the EMAIL HAS ARRIVED sound (to make it the Eudora sound - lol)
... but these are small issues (that will hopefuly get resolved) compared to the big picture that I now have a decent and modern email app again, and one that properly formats HTML.
I try to stay near inbox zero, but if I have 20 emails in my inbox...they can't be found in Unibox because there is no inbox...or at least I haven't found it yet. I get the Unibox concept, but where are my current inbox messages? If a few of them are six months old...they're just not findable in the left column of Unibox.
- - -
Migrate all folders and subfolders from a POP account in Mail.app to a POP account in Airmail or Postbox.
- - -
Is there an email program that can do the above migration in an easy way?
There are a lot of us "dinosaurs." Perhaps if we all stuck together we could get someone to do the surely not impossible and create an application with the simple direct usability of Eudora that meets the criteria of the new systems and beyond so we could stop this idiocy of having to change something as basic as email with every system upgrade.
I seem to have huge trouble getting Apple Mail to connect to my Exchange service (whereas I haven't had the same issue on my MS Surface with Windows 8.1), despite having all the correct settings on-hand.
It might be time to look at one of these alternatives. It's a shame Unibox is IMAP only - presumably it doesn't play with Exchange.
Wow, that takes me back to 1997. Eudora mail server accessed through a Performa 5210CD...
Surprised I remember it; I thought I had subconsciously destroyed all the memories of my life.