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Main » 2010 » June » 19 » THUNDERBIRD 2
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Thunderbird 2
Mozilla's already
impressive e-mail client has
improved with version 2. In fact, this free open-source e-mail
application raises the bar enough that I can safely say I prefer it over
Outlook Express. Thunderbird 2 includes new and very useful features
but keeps its interface clean (some might say austere) and fairly
intuitive. As with its predecessor, this version lets you aggregate your
online mail clients locally and has the potential to attract millions
of new users—but to keep new users who aren't tech-savvy, the
application will need a decent quick-start guide or wizard. Without it,
this fine software will remain a niche product valued by power users but
few others.
Those who lack at least passing familiarity with e-mail protocols (POP3 or IMAP4 anyone?) or who have no outside guidance are
likely to be lost from the start. And users who don't have e-mail
clients from which they can import settings and account information will
find themselves staring at a mostly blank screen wondering, "where do I
go from here?"
Just as with its older sibling, Firefox,
extensibility is Thunderbird's biggest draw. Available extensions let
you do most anything you can imagine—from changing the look with themes
to adding thesauri, calendar apps (such as my favorite, Lightning),
mapping modules, and more, you can modify Thunderbird's configuration
almost infinitely. There were a total of 349 extensions available for
previous versions of Thunderbird, and 40 appear fully compatible with
version 2. Check back at PCMag.com over the next few weeks for a roundup
of my favorites.
That
New-Feature Smell
You'll find a host of new capabilities, most of them focused on
improved ease of use. I count tagging among my favorites. I can create
my own message tags to organize e-mail. For example, I'm into nautical
archaeology and subscribe to several different mailing lists that have
lots of overlapping topics. Tags let me easily place messages, as I read
them, into categories such ash Old World, New World, and Ship
Architecture. Later, I can use the tags to sort and find specific
e-mails. The feature proves particularly helpful for those who get large
volumes of e-mail. You can also combine tags with saved searches,
making organizing even easier. This is similar to the labeling feature
in Gmail
(but with fewer clicks needed) and largely analogous to, and on par
with, the categorization feature available in Outlook 2007. Another nice
feature, although not new, assists in organization by letting you
right-click to return the messages to an order based on their original
threads.
The addition of Back and Forward buttons may seem like a simple
innovation, but it's a big help for navigating your message history.
Also, better-looking and more helpful mail alerts include the subject
and sender lines as well as message-preview text. The notices, which
appear as new mail comes into your accounts, hover just above your
Windows task tray momentarily before unobtrusively fading away.
I was pleased to see support for Gmail and Apple's
.Mac mail, a big benefit to users who want to grab their mail from those
accounts quickly. The process takes little more than clicking the
button for the appropriate service in the Create a new account
wizard. I had my entire Gmail store imported within a minute or two. You
can't have everything, though; my multitude of Google Alerts got parsed
into individual e-mails instead of the self-contained, nested, and
grouped threads you see by default within the Gmail interface. The 391
alerts in my Gmail inbox suddenly became 16,056 separate e-mails in my
Thunderbird inbox.
Starting From Scratch
For new users staring at the nearly empty interface after installing
Thunderbird 2, here are some helpful hints. Click on the Thunderbird 2
release notes link under the help menu and, at least as of this
writing, the last link will take you to a Web page that, at the bottom,
links to the Quick Start Guide. That, in turn, carries you to mozillaZine,
where you'll find straightforward answers to some frequently asked
questions. You can also head over to the Thunderbird user forums hosted
at mozillaZine. (You'll find convenient links to all of these at
the end of this review.)
If you just want to get started, and you already have a Gmail
account, that enables what is probably the easiest method. As noted
earlier, Thunderbird 2 builds in hooks that will go out and fetch your
Gmail. The process requires only a modicum of personal information. From
the main interface, click on Local folders; the Thunderbird
Mail–Local Folders window will open to the right. Next click on Create
a new account and in the wizard that opens, you'll see a bulleted
list that prominently displays Gmail. Click on that, and the
wizard will ask you for your username, and, subsequently, your Gmail
password. You'll then be asked if you want to download your Gmail. Click
on yes and Enter and your Gmail should start filling your
Thunderbird inbox.
Thunderbird 2 isn't the desktop mail
application for everyone. If you want a free e-mail application that's
superior to Outlook Express (and in some ways better than the new
Windows Mail you get with Vista; more on that in a standalone review of
Windows Mail coming soon), then Thunderbird 2 is probably for you. If
you find the comprehensive feature set in Microsoft Outlook 2007
indispensable, or can't live without its many integrated hooks to other Microsoft applications,
then Thunderbird 2 probably won't suffice. Microsoft Outlook 2007
remains the dominant player, and many folks will never drop it in favor
of the new Mozilla e-mail client.
Thunderbird remains best suited to the avid application tinkerers and
early adopters. But if you don't mind hunting for guidance online,
adding extensions, and generally learning a few new tricks on how to
manage your e-mail, though, you could gain a lot by spending $0.00 on
Thunderbird 2.
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Added by: Cristi
| Rating: 0.0/0 |
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