| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |
| Mozilla to cease development on Thunderbird |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-07-06 22:42:14 |
| Mozilla has announced it's ceasing development on Thunderbird; one more version will be released, and it'll be security updates from then on. "Most Thunderbird users seem happy with the basic email feature set. In parallel, we have seen the rising popularity of Web-based forms of communications representing email alternatives to a desktop solution. Given this, focusing on stability for Thunderbird and driving innovation through other offerings seems a natural choice." Makes sense - I mean, there's only so much you can do with something that needs to send and receive mail, and I can't imagine Thunderbird having a lot of users. Strange, almost Microsoftian obtuse announcement, by the way. |
|
| Comment by shmerl |
| By shmerl on 2012-07-06 23:05:38 |
|
I don't like web e-mail clients. They are laggy, and inconvenient. Hopefully this "freeze" doesn't mean they won't fix major bugs anymore. Like this annoying bug for example: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show... It's a pity though they won't work on adding more features, like Carddav support and so on: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show... |
 - Score: 6 |
| My mom <3 |
| By AnXa on 2012-07-06 23:05:45 |
|
My mother is one of the Thunderbird users. I did a wise decision by already moving her stuff to Google Mail but she was obsessed with using desktop email client. I wonder how I am going to explain why she doesn't need it... I've already tried several times... I guess some people just need a desktop client for the sake of having a desktop client to sort the functionality some how. It makes it easier for them to understand "that www" is behind this icon and your "electronic mail" is behind that icon. :-) ... And as noted above me, there are some benefits of having a desktop email client like having a single UI for several different email providers. I can agree that it makes it easier for people to manage their mail too. Anyone who has used current Hotmail webmail service knows how bad the Hotmail's UI is compared to any other webmail provider out there. Not to mention Yahoo. :-D Edited 2012-07-06 23:08 UTC |
| - Score: 3 |
| I don't like this trend |
| By winter skies on 2012-07-06 23:16:17 |
|
So it seems who commented before me is implying that being able to read your email and/or view your attachments when offline is of no interest to anyone. I disagree. I like having all my mail in one, easily accessible "place" that is not dependent on the availability of my Internet connection, thanks. It seems crazy to me to be forced to use ugly web interfaces to manage my messages. Moreover, I like to keep my accounts separate - ie no redirection to my main gmail address, please. Am I the only one? |
| - Score: 20 |
| Convenient timing. |
| By woegjiub on 2012-07-06 23:24:56 |
|
I started using thunderbird less than a month ago, simply in order to move all of my mail from google's servers onto my own computer. This timing is so deliciously awkward. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE: Convenient timing. |
| By righard on 2012-07-06 23:30:41 |
| Thunderbird won't cease to exist and will shall still be maintained. If not will very certainly be forked. So there is no need to worry. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: I don't like this trend |
| By smashIt on 2012-07-06 23:34:05 |
|
> Am I the only one? nope i us thunderbird since ~3 years and don't plan to switch to some stupid webmail-crap sorry, but with 4 mail-accounts and over 50 aliases thats no option for me and don't get me started on privacy-issues Edited 2012-07-06 23:35 UTC |
| - Score: 22 |
| mutt |
| By andih on 2012-07-06 23:35:36 |
|
mutt user, and loving it :) sad news though.. |
| - Score: 6 |
| RE[2]: Convenient timing. |
| By woegjiub on 2012-07-06 23:37:05 |
|
Oh, I understand that entirely. It will be interesting to see how long their maintenance and security fixes will last for, and whether there will be any updates on the feature-set again in the future. As each day passes, Stallman seems more and more justified in his worries regarding things like cloud computing. |
| - Score: 5 |
| Seamonkey |
| By Phantom X on 2012-07-06 23:42:36 |
| Mozilla did that with Mozilla Application Suite before. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Comment by v_bobok |
| By v_bobok on 2012-07-06 23:44:19 |
| Fork away, fellow people, fork away... |
| - Score: 2 |
| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |