Re:Firefox Can Now Get Push Notifications from Your Favorite...
by newscracker on Wednesday January 27, 2016 @09:50AM
(#10980234)
> Thunderbird works. Email isn't evolving like the web is, so what point is there for Mozilla to throw resources at it?
Not related to the topic at hand, but I couldn't resist commenting on this point. Actually, what people really wanted out of Thunderbird for a very very very long time was calendaring that would work well with MS Exchange. Not some chat integration or other features people weren't really looking forward to in their email client.
People have managed and do manage with different solutions on the Lightning backend (which was integrated into Thunderbird main) like DavMail gateway, Exchange Provider (now maintained by Ericsson) and so on, but they're still not complete solutions for inviting people, accept/tentatively accept/decline invitations, have acceptance show up for other people properly (like Outlook would), etc. This is one area that could improve a lot and really make people using Thunderbird in an MS Exchange environment (which is at least a few hundred thousand, if not more) quit hanging on to Outlook or Outlook Web Access for "that one thing" that Thunderbird is not adequate for. All this desire does not mean that it's trivial in any way to implement these features, but there are many Thunderbird users who would value such a thing a lot. If that doesn't answer "what point is there for Mozilla to throw resources at it?", then nothing else can.
Another area of improvement is search. When Gloda (the global database and search) was introduced, it was a terrific feature that could look across all emails. I still use it, but sadly, it continues to be highly limited in how one can filter the search results and find the needle in the haystack, and things have not gotten much better with time, in my experience.
Yes, Outlook won in the enterprise. But there was no reason not to continue working on a really good alternative with so many users behind it.
As I've said before, if there were a way to donate to Mozilla and have a say in where that donation (or most of it) goes, I'd definitely be voting for Thunderbird to have my share. I'd like to believe many Thunderbird fans would too.
Not related to the topic at hand, but I couldn't resist commenting on this point. Actually, what people really wanted out of Thunderbird for a very very very long time was calendaring that would work well with MS Exchange. Not some chat integration or other features people weren't really looking forward to in their email client.
People have managed and do manage with different solutions on the Lightning backend (which was integrated into Thunderbird main) like DavMail gateway, Exchange Provider (now maintained by Ericsson) and so on, but they're still not complete solutions for inviting people, accept/tentatively accept/decline invitations, have acceptance show up for other people properly (like Outlook would), etc. This is one area that could improve a lot and really make people using Thunderbird in an MS Exchange environment (which is at least a few hundred thousand, if not more) quit hanging on to Outlook or Outlook Web Access for "that one thing" that Thunderbird is not adequate for. All this desire does not mean that it's trivial in any way to implement these features, but there are many Thunderbird users who would value such a thing a lot. If that doesn't answer "what point is there for Mozilla to throw resources at it?", then nothing else can.
Another area of improvement is search. When Gloda (the global database and search) was introduced, it was a terrific feature that could look across all emails. I still use it, but sadly, it continues to be highly limited in how one can filter the search results and find the needle in the haystack, and things have not gotten much better with time, in my experience.
Yes, Outlook won in the enterprise. But there was no reason not to continue working on a really good alternative with so many users behind it.
As I've said before, if there were a way to donate to Mozilla and have a say in where that donation (or most of it) goes, I'd definitely be voting for Thunderbird to have my share. I'd like to believe many Thunderbird fans would too.