SillyDog701

[James]

Since we have no Thunderbird folder, I'll put this post here but feel free to move it elsewhere.

Mozilla Clipping Thunderbird's Wings
John P. Mello Jr. Jul 6, 2012 3:30 pm

Mozilla is halting development on its free email program, Thunderbird.
The company isn't killing Thunderbird--it will continue to support the email client, it just won't be innovating for the program.

Read entire article here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/258920/m ... wings.html

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1

[James]

And a couple more links that seemingly confirm that Mozilla are seriously considering pulling the plug (at least on innovation if not completely). September appears to the evaluation time.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-574679 ... g=readMore

http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/06/so-tha ... underbird/

The Tech Crunch article is much more definite. And here is the main thing: "While it’s sure to upset some diehards, it’s a move that makes sense, given that Thunderbird, an open source Outlook competitor, is desktop software in a world that has been rapidly moving to mobile and web. Mozilla itself has been ramping up efforts in these areas as of late, with the recent introductions of its “boot-to-gecko” OS (now “Firefox OS”), for example, as well as a new web-based code editor called Thimble, “Junior,” a Webkit-based browser for iPad, its Firefox mobile web browser, of course, and more."

I've been saying this all along now for almost a year: outside of the enterprise, most folks no longer use email of a POP or IMAP variety. Most now use webmail, Facebook, texting or IM to communicate on a personal basis. Mozilla does not have the resources to play around with this older form of email anymore. My bet is that it will soon be history.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1

[Antony]

Thanks James.

Like mentioned in other threads, there are many other ways of communication (and usually with much faster responds than) email. I admit I am still old fashioned.

Perhaps, the demotion of Thunderbird is Mozilla's overall plan to focus on Firefox OS. It is easily understandable that Mozilla wants to compete against iOS since Mozilla does not really like Apple. As for competing against Google's Android, it's a bit tricky since after all, Google is believed to be Mozilla's major financial source with the amount refused to be disclosed by the open-source group.

Mozilla has a proposal on the new Thunderbird: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Pr ... ance_Model
The two versions are Thunderbird ESR and (vanilla) Thunderbird.
Thunderbird ESR will receive an update every 42 weeks with life time of 54 weeks. While the other Thunderbird will be updated every 6 weeks (like Firefox).

The every-six week release of Thunderbird will be focused on security and stability. Unlike Firefox, there's no mention of something “awesomeness”, “more awesomeness”, and “even more awesomeness” and so on... (as promised for Firefox almost an year ago) on every six-week release of Thunderbird.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1 AlexaToolbar/alxf-2.15

[James]

I don't think Mozilla's plans have anything to do with Apple, Antony. I think it's all about survival. This past year has seen Firefox's lead eroded away by Chrome and we all know it won't be long before Chrome surpasses Firefox. It's simply a less bloated more streamlined browser and it's tied into Google's eco-system (docs, calendar, maps, news reader, phone, tablet). Mozilla has wasted too many resources (i.e. in-house developers) developing for dated types of technologies such as Thunderbird. There is no way under the sun that TB will ever be adopted by the corporate community. Outlook is a far more advanced and business oriented program. And it's been shown in survey after survey: most folks today no longer use desktop email clients. I'm not in the least bit surprised by this announcement. And I'll make a prediction that within two years Mozilla will completely severe any ties with TB. They're simply doing some damage control right now by saying they'll provide security updates on a regular basis. I don't think that will last on a permanent basis.

This past year and a half I've seen my own online habits change dramatically with the purchase of an ipad and a smart phone. Antony, I would say that half of my online time is now spent away from a desktop and a laptop computer. I text to friends and family throughout the day and rarely receive email (at least on a regular basis). And the email I do receive is via the web (hotmail). Mozilla needs to get their own OS developed and onto these devices and fast. They're coming to the party late and if they don't get their act together they're history.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1

[Antony]

You have a valid point, James.

I still don't do much SMS. My iPhone, iPad and Macs have different sets of email accounts (a few are common). Some emails I answer in computer, some I do in iPad. Call me old fashioned, i still use the "standalone" mail application (on Mac or iPad, iPhone) instead of webmail.

We shall expect Mozilla to announce that due to the changes in atmosphere, Thunderbird will be abandoned in near future.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3

[Edward]

Here's another:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406821,00.asp

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/536.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/20.0.1132.47 Safari/536.11

[James]

Thanks for the article, Edward. I'm sure folks will be fine sticking with TB since it won't be dropped immediately and updates for security purposes will follow. Long term, however, I've a feeling that other email clients (i.e. The Bat) will need to be installed if they want to keep a desktop email client.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0; BOIE9;ENUSMSE)

[Edward]

I used The Bat! back in my dialup days under Windows 95/98.

Today, I now use Sylpheed and Claws Mail (links below in my signature.) Claws Mail itself was previously known as Sylpheed-Claws and was originally the development version of Sylpheed. Both are available in versions for Linux and Windows. The Windows version is part of GPG4Win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylpheed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claws_Mail

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/536.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/20.0.1132.47 Safari/536.11

[Antony]

And the forgotten Eudora OSE? Eudora OSE uses Thunderbird code with the original interface. Does it mean that Eudora will be revert back to its classic codebase?
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Eudora_Releases

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3

[James]

And the forgotten Eudora OSE? Eudora OSE uses Thunderbird code with the original interface. Does it mean that Eudora will be revert back to its classic codebase?
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Eudora_Releases

Really? I thought Eudora was history... a long time ago. If I remember correctly, Mozilla was going to use Eudora's code to revamp TB in the Penelope project which bit the dust. So, wouldn't the use of Eudora today be a rather risky business since it has ceased development AND no security updates have been applied to it in years?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0; BOIE9;ENUSMSE)

[Edward]

I'm removing Thunderbird from my computers. No sense in using it anymore, since they also failed to take care of a bug I reported six (6) years ago...

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/536.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/20.0.1132.47 Safari/536.11

[Antony]

Really? I thought Eudora was history... a long time ago. If I remember correctly, Mozilla was going to use Eudora's code to revamp TB in the Penelope project which bit the dust. So, wouldn't the use of Eudora today be a rather risky business since it has ceased development AND no security updates have been applied to it in years?

Still available, just hasn't been updated for a long while.

Well, Eudora was the first email application I used on Mac (back in the university days), back then, I used Netscape Mail at home.

But think about it, Eudora is just to display and compose emails, how much security thing we need to be worried? As long as we have a good virus protection app, and disable JavaScript, and perhaps also disable remote images,, most people will be fine.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3

[James]

I'm removing Thunderbird from my computers. No sense in using it anymore, since they also failed to take care of a bug I reported six (6) years ago...

Actually, I removed TB a few days ago and reverted to Windows Live Mail. It has everything I need: newsreader, calendar, link to Skydrive, connection to Hotmail. My gut feeling is, there will be a sizable group who will jettison TB over the next few weeks but the majority will remain with it.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0; BOIE9;ENUSMSE)

[James]

But think about it, Eudora is just to display and compose emails, how much security thing we need to be worried? As long as we have a good virus protection app, and disable JavaScript, and perhaps also disable remote images,, most people will be fine.

I worry about security, Antony. I suppose you're right... if one were to take the precautions you mentioned, he should be fine. But being the sort of person I am, I would still worry about something getting through. I know some folks who still use Netscape mail which has been gone now for several years. And I can imagine there are still folks out there running NS 7 through NS 9 which would be far more risky than the email from Eudora. It's just not my nature to take unnecessary risks when I can have an updated program.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0; BOIE9;ENUSMSE)

[geffr]

I am old.I use email only (other than Board posts like this one) & still use Netscape 4.79 for email. Last time I tried to migrate to Thunderbird (it was within the last year) when I imported my NS email into TBird, Tbird started uploading all 10 gb or so to the folders on my email hosts servers! I most definitely did not instruct it to dp so! So I''m still on NS 4.79.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:13.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/13.0.1