Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 Universal: Very Nice

You'll be wanting to look here for the latest Universal Binary builds. The file size (at or around 18MB) indicates that you've grabbed a Universal (many languages are there). I found the 20060525 nightly to be very good so far, and seems to have resolved some window/text wrapping issues when composing/replying. The performance is good, and very much better than what I found with the PPC builds (as would be expected). Added the Crossover 2.2 theme, and it's a great working, great looking app.

Mark

I never really saw what was better about Thunderbird vs. Mail. Care to share?

ForeverG5 said:

I never really saw what was better about Thunderbird vs. Mail. Care to share?

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Mail is really very nice. In my case, I had gotten used to using Thunderbird in the Windows world, as it is much better than most of what's available for that OS. In general, I just prefer the UI - the way in which accounts/SMTP servers are setup, etc. I also find that it does a better job of quote handling with messages sent by AOL members from the AOL client software. Most mail clients (and as I recall Mail, included) don't properly quote those messages. It may be partly the way the sender has configured her AOL mail, but I do need to read/reply to those messages, and Thunderbird just seems to handle them better. But again, I've got no real dislike of Mail.

Mark

Re Thunderbird vs. Mail, I went through this too. Like geekboy2000, I like Thunderbird's handling of multiple accounts better - I have several email addresses, and can represent each one unquely on the side panel that lists inbox, outbox, etc., which I don't seem to be able to do in Mail. Someone please set me straight if that is not the case. In this case, it means that each account shows up separately on the side panel that shows Inbox, Outbox, Sent, etc... Mail seems to use one global inbox, outbox, etc. and all accounts send/receive via this one set of boxes.

There is also the issue of import/export. I am concerned about locking myself into a single vendor solution for email. I haven't looked deeply into it, but I am not sure what format Mail uses for its mailboxes. I do note however that while the GUI has an import function, it doesn't have an export function. Has anyone ever moved mail from Mail to some other program like Thunderbird or Sylpheed, or gawd forbid, Outlook (full or Express)?

Dumb Question: Why use thunderbird as opposed to say yahoo or gmail? These may be two totally different options for two different types of users, but if anyone has any insight it'd be greatly appreciated.

Mace said:

Dumb Question: Why use thunderbird as opposed to say yahoo or gmail? These may be two totally different options for two different types of users, but if anyone has any insight it'd be greatly appreciated.

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Not a dumb question. I have a Gmail account, and it's a great service. Thunderbird though is a mail client/app, as opposed to Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc, which are web/browser based interfaces to your mail. In addition to my Gmail account, I've also got several IMAP accounts and POP3 accounts, all of which can be added to Thunderbird. In other words, all of my accounts in one place, with a lot of flexibility. Gmail can be configured to work in Thunderbird (and other e-mail clients as well) too, as it supports POP retrieval.

Mark

Maybe I'm missing something in Apple's Mail setup, but I'm reluctant to use Mail because there does not appear to be any way to turn off html in messages received. Nor is there a way to block the viewing of attachments, unless they're from a third party.

I use Thunderbird and SeaMonkey's mail apps because I can set them to receive everything in plain text and without loading inline pictures.

With Mail, the only way to ensure that no transparent-gif web bugs can phone home is to take mail offline or disconnect the net before clicking on the message. Mail allows the user to drag the main message-window to the bottom to prevent email previews, but the message, perhaps loaded with web bugs, has to be clicked to be read, anyway. Mail's plain-text alternative can be used only after the html message is received.

Mail's help has a link leading to this page that says, falsely:

Follow these steps to turn on or off HTML rendering, as desired:

1. Open Mail.
2. Choose Mail > Preferences.
3. Click the Viewing icon in the Preferences window.
4. Select or deselect (as desired) the checkbox for "Display images and embedded objects in HTML messages".

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There is no such setting. There may have been in OS 10.2, but now the closest setting blocks only remote, third-party links.

I've received mail from a known correspondent whose PC was a zombie, so the mail wasn't safe. But with Mozilla's email apps set to kill html and block attachments, that didn't matter.

geekboy2000 said:

Not a dumb question. I have a Gmail account, and it's a great service. Thunderbird though is a mail client/app, as opposed to Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc, which are web/browser based interfaces to your mail. In addition to my Gmail account, I've also got several IMAP accounts and POP3 accounts, all of which can be added to Thunderbird. In other words, all of my accounts in one place, with a lot of flexibility. Gmail can be configured to work in Thunderbird (and other e-mail clients as well) too, as it supports POP retrieval.

Mark

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So I can read my gmail in thunderbird? Interesting. But if I only have gmail and yahoo accounts and the like is it worth using thunderbird with those?

So I can read my gmail in thunderbird? Interesting. But if I only have gmail and yahoo accounts and the like is it worth using thunderbird with those?

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As a user that has several email addresses, some with POP3 access and some with not, I have learned to get used to Thunderbird/Mail.

I have Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, ISP email and college email. Yes, I know it's an excess, but they all have their purposes. (Yahoo! for spam, Hotmail for MSN, Gmail for large files, ISP for everyday mail and college for facebook)

Out of those, Yahoo! and Hotmail do not allow POP3 access from Thunderbird/Mail without paying a fee, so I just check them via some other method. My homepage in Firefox is Yahoo!, so that's once click away from my email, but there are others ways (third party programs) to access your email without logging into their site.

If you have 2 accounts, one that works and one that doesn't work with Thunderbird/Mail, you would have to try it and see if you like it, but I would recommend it.

geekboy2000 said:

Not a dumb question. I have a Gmail account, and it's a great service. Thunderbird though is a mail client/app, as opposed to Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc, which are web/browser based interfaces to your mail. In addition to my Gmail account, I've also got several IMAP accounts and POP3 accounts, all of which can be added to Thunderbird. In other words, all of my accounts in one place, with a lot of flexibility. Gmail can be configured to work in Thunderbird (and other e-mail clients as well) too, as it supports POP retrieval.

Mark

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thats exactly thats why i am starting to think about using Thunderbird because i have like a lot of different accounts and i have to open them all every week.