main
Report a problem

Thunderbird 3 release has wings clipped

Daniel Fleshbourne   on 03 October 2008 - 11:49 · 20 comments & 12646 views

Advertisement (Why?)
Mozilla has pushed back its development schedule for Thunderbird 3, the next version of its email client. A planned beta of the package will now be described as a third alpha build. The first beta of Thunderbird 3 was due to come out at the end of September. It would have been followed by a second in November and a release candidate sometime towards the back end of January, according to a preliminary release schedule. This date is now likely to be pushed back, given that several features are not yet in place, but by how long remains unclear. The cross-platform email client has been available as an alpha for several months.

The revised description is intended to avoid raising the profile of the release when neither the product nor Mozilla Messaging are ready, according to a blog posting by Mozilla developer Dan Mosedale.

View: The full story @ The Reg

Post a comment · Send to friend Comments · There are 20 additional comments
(1 reply) #1 Magallanes on 03 Oct 2008 - 12:59
I tried the latest thunderbird for backup my gmail account and was impossible. While i was able to connect and download my email but the amount of email downloaded was inferior to the real number (less that 2000 from 6000 email). I tried again and i only was able to download even less email (yes, i configure gmail to pop all email).

So then i tried to do the same using Outlook 2003, this client did the job flawless.




#1.1 Faisal Islam on 03 Oct 2008 - 19:23
ya..caz MS Office Outlook is the most professional email client.
(1 reply) #2 chaos_disorder on 03 Oct 2008 - 14:07
I was looking forward to Thunderbird 3, but now that Windows Live Mail has a built-in calendar, I have no need for this. The Lightning extension was the only thing that kept me coming back to Thunderbird.
#2.1 ermax on 06 Oct 2008 - 15:26
I liked the new WLM beta and used it for about 4 weeks and finally had to put it aside. It has a nice GUI and has some cool features but it is slow as hell and stops responding all the time. I check 4 accounts via IMAP and it was SLOOOWWW. I went back to Thunderbird 3 and am back up to speed.

I only have two problems with Thunderbird 3 and that's the reply headers and the broken inline spell checker. I run the nightly builds and about 6 months ago the inline spell check stopped working. I can't believe a feature so important is taking 6 months to fix. Someone is actively working on a patch now and is making headway. Finally.
(1 reply) #3 C_Guy on 03 Oct 2008 - 14:25
They still make this?!

I'm just glad they don't try to force it on people who download FireFox, such as Apple pushing Safari on iTunes users or the many applications that secretly install Google toolbar. I at least give them points for that.
#3.1 cork1958 on 04 Oct 2008 - 07:58
That's the ONLY thing I'd give them points for!
(2 replies) #4 Mathachew on 03 Oct 2008 - 14:58
I wonder if they will eventually change their method of storing email so that Windows can index my emails. I use IMAP on all my emails so I find myself using Windows Live Mail to simply download the emails and have them indexed. I'm thinking maybe I'll just ditch TB altogether...
#4.1 Angel Blue01 on 04 Oct 2008 - 13:37
The problem is that no one has written an ifilter for Thunderbird that works with Vista's search
#4.2 ermax on 06 Oct 2008 - 15:33
The latest nightly works with the windows indexer now.

Download the nightly here.
(7 replies) #5 TRC on 03 Oct 2008 - 15:30
How many people still use dedicated email clients? By the time the final 3.0 release comes out it will already be obsolete.
#5.1 +warwagon on 03 Oct 2008 - 16:04
If you don't use a client and trust ALL your emails to the cloud and the cloud crashes then your screwed.

I prefer to use a combination of both. Gmail + Thunderbird with pop3 access.
#5.2 vanacid on 03 Oct 2008 - 16:43
I don't thrust the cloud, but I thrust the Giant Spagetti Monster.
#5.3 FrozenEclipse on 03 Oct 2008 - 18:03
(vanacid said @ #5.2)
I don't thrust the cloud, but I thrust the Giant Spagetti Monster.


Is it good?
#5.4 bits on 03 Oct 2008 - 18:18
He also can fly.
#5.5 ozgeek on 03 Oct 2008 - 20:54
Oh you trust web mails to contain your personal bank details that the bank sends you?

I still use Thunderbird to get all emails off the email server and onto my computer so only I can see the emails.
#5.6 Dibbler on 05 Oct 2008 - 05:26
(ozgeek said @ #5.5)
Oh you trust web mails to contain your personal bank details that the bank sends you?

I still use Thunderbird to get all emails off the email server and onto my computer so only I can see the emails.


Your bank sends you personal details by email..!

Now that would worry me regardless of what client I use.

By the time that Thunderbird 3 is ever released it will be too little too late. WLM desktop is coming along reasonably well. Although with wave 3 I do wish that they had kept the icons on the toolbar. And make it work, be default, with XP 64.
#5.7 Shiranui on 06 Oct 2008 - 03:50
(vanacid said @ #5.2)
I don't thrust the cloud, but I thrust the Giant Spagetti Monster.


Thrust, eh?



And yes, don't trust the cloud.
#6 ]SK[ on 03 Oct 2008 - 20:42
I've been using Thunderbird for a while now. I have no issues with it and it does exactly what I need. That said it is pretty poor in terms of features. I also don't use a single addon unlike firefox. Windows Mail refuses to see all of IMAP mail folders for some reason, until I figure out why I will continue to use Thunderbird.
#7 nMIK-3 on 03 Oct 2008 - 20:51
wrong post please delete

Last edited by nMIK-3 on 04 Oct 2008 - 08:57
#8 nMIK-3 on 03 Oct 2008 - 21:16
I was really looking forward for that one.

Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!

Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.

Advertisement (Why?)