[Novalug] Searching for a new email client

Dave Aronson tux2dave@davearonson.com
Sun Feb 24 18:07:11 EST 2008


John Franklin wrote:

> Mail.app on Mac.  Yes, it means getting a Mac, but it fits the bill.

Hmmmm.  So, get a Mac, run some kind of Linux on it, and the Mac 
analogue of WINE (MINE?) to run mail.app?

Or did you really mean (gasp!) Not Run Linux?!  HERETIC!!!  Burn him!

Oh.  Wait a minute.  I'm typing this from my... Powerbook... running... 
MacOSX... uhhhh... nevermindkthxbye!  ;-)

Okay, seriously now, it depends, as always, on what you need.  I tried 
mail.app and it was OK, but it didn't support, in any way I could easily 
figure out how to do easily, a few features I consider crucial.  I 
forget what the others were, but the one I remember is that it wouldn't 
let me easily change the From line.  (No fraud intended; I use a 
gazillion different addresses, as an anti-spam measure.)

Thunderbird doesn't either... by itself.  However, the Virtual Identity 
plugin makes it do so, pretty easily.  (So does Gmail, so that's my 
webmail of choice these days.)

The other big advantage of T-bird over most of the others, is that I can 
use the same package, on my Windows, Mac, AND Linux boxes.  No more 
having to mentally switch gears between Outhouse, mail.app, and Kmail. 
Now only between T-bird and, when I'm somewhere that lets me do web but 
not IMAP, Gmail (though I'm still stuck in the Outhouse for work email).

I must admit, though, mail.app's filters being able to run random 
Applescript is pretty cool.  There may be a plugin to allow T-bird to do 
that, but certainly not by default.

Then there's the whole "get a Mac" thing.  Definitely sound advice for 
any techie (or non-techie looking to escape the clutches of the Beast of 
Redmond) with a few grand to spare.

-Dave

-- 
Dave Aronson
"Specialization is for insects." -Heinlein
Work: http://www.davearonson.com/
Play: http://www.davearonson.net/



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