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Sparrow mail alternative for Windows?

Asked by th3rEsa,

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Tuishimi

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I actually sent mail to the dev of sparrow and pleaded with him to make a windows 7 version. :D He said it would be a massive undertaking. :)

Postbox is getting sexier every day. Once threading is supported in a separate pane I might just close the viewing pane and work it like that... I will take a look at inbox2 tho'...

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Paul Ferson Veteran

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Oh man, Windows developers really couldn't care less about using a native interface huh? :laugh: Applications like that instantly make me remember why I switched to Mac OS X.

That really isn't a native interface, I'll agree there.

Inbox2 seems pretty decent actually. The only problem I have is that GDI++ won't re-render it with smoother text for whatever reason. It also crashes when I open up a large Gmail conversation (eg. I have one with 40+ messages in it).

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OOOOOOOO

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Oh man, Windows developers really couldn't care less about using a native interface huh? :laugh: Applications like that instantly make me remember why I switched to Mac OS X.

I'm on OSX too man, but so many Mac apps don't look right either ... like ... think about it ... apps like Adium ... I mean, Adium looks like a linux app ported to MacOS. Maybe it is. I dunno. But that's one example of a naff looking app out of the box (yes, I know you can install themes etc but that's not the point).

It's not Mac or PC that makes the difference, it's the attitudes the developers take.

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Tuishimi

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Windows developers really couldn't care less about using a native interface huh? :laugh: Applications like that instantly make me remember why I switched to Mac OS X.

Yes I miss the apps. :) I no longer have my mac, my wife and daughter still have them, but I needed a PC for work. Started using Windows 7 when in Beta and decided I liked it, still using it. And NOW I have so many GAMES on it that I don't know if I can ever go back.

My only hope is that as MS tries to better regulate APIs and the UI libraries in the future, app developers will be more limited in how far they can stray from a "norm."

So for now, anyway, it is Postbox for me. Can't stand Outlook (which I own - MS Office 2010) and Windows Live Mail is... well, O.K. Postbox has great features and is stable as can be... and the developer add features based on requests in the forums which can be voted up and down by the users... and versions come out every few months. He also supports OS X and Linux (since it was originally based on Thunderbird).

That really isn't a native interface, I'll agree there.

Inbox2 seems pretty decent actually. The only problem I have is that GDI++ won't re-render it with smoother text for whatever reason. It also crashes when I open up a large Gmail conversation (eg. I have one with 40+ messages in it).

Ah! That is exactly what I tried ... installed it, pointed to my gmail account, clicked on the first message in the list and *boom*... crash.

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johnporter29

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Just downloaded Inbox2 to try... not ready for prime time. Slow UI, slow processing email and it crashed while trying to read an email message.

Same for me, shame, looks really good though.

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Paul Ferson Veteran

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Ah! That is exactly what I tried ... installed it, pointed to my gmail account, clicked on the first message in the list and *boom*... crash.

Shame really, because Inbox2 seems like it could be fairly decent when it's a more polished product. As for Postbox... what real benefit does it offer over Thunderbird? As an email noob, what benefit does it offer over Gmail itself?

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Tuishimi

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Shame really, because Inbox2 seems like it could be fairly decent when it's a more polished product. As for Postbox... what real benefit does it offer over Thunderbird? As an email noob, what benefit does it offer over Gmail itself?

Local mailboxes, more polished (in my opinion) than Thunderbird with alternate features. The flag/threading model is slightly different and I prefer how it works over Tbird and other email products. You'd have to see it in action to get a feel for it. Take that with a grain of salt tho'... as my favorite email app of all time (next to BeMail) was Sweetmail. :)

Postbox threads throughout mailboxes, if you flag an item it becomes "important" and always floats to the top of your email list. Conversations are neatly preserved in the view pane. It has "quick replies", tabbing... etc.

Right now he is working on multi-line message lists. It's one of the top requests.

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migo

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My only hope is that as MS tries to better regulate APIs and the UI libraries in the future, app developers will be more limited in how far they can stray from a "norm."

So for now, anyway, it is Postbox for me.??Can't stand Outlook (which I own - MS Office 2010) and Windows Live Mail is... well, O.K.??Postbox has great features and is stable as can be... and the developer add features based on requests in the forums which can be voted up and down by the users... and versions come out every few months.??He also supports OS X and Linux (since it was originally based on Thunderbird).

Windows 8 with Metro should fix that, at least for a few years, I imagine we'll be into Windows 9 before devs start messing with their own custom UIs.I'm quite a fan of PostBox Express. A little disappointed it hasn't seen any continued development, but it does the job for me.
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Mohitster

Posted
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OK, I am not really a Mac fan, rather the opposite; but I have recently stumbled upon sparrow and I thought, wow.

Is there any similar looking mail client for Windows around?

:woot:

Have you tried AltoMail? https://www.altomail.com/app/main

I am using it for few days now and really like the reformed views of my email....and its quite productive even at these initial stages!

Edit: It still is web based though....but still well worth a try!

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Rappy Veteran

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Have you tried AltoMail? https://www.altomail.com/app/main

I am using it for few days now and really like the reformed views of my email....and its quite productive even at these initial stages!

Edit: It still is web based though....but still well worth a try!

I am on the invite list for that :( seems to take ages!

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