Beyond Outlook: Five Alternative E-Mail Apps

I do love my Pegasus.

When I try to introduce it to somebody, they seem to think it's complicated. I think that's just because of the spartan look it has and so many options. I only change a couple settings from default (like sending read mail out of the new mail folder automatically) and never bothered messing with more.

 

My favs ...

In Windows ... Courier, Pegasus, Thunderbird, then Outlook

In Linux ... Thunderbird 1.5.02 with OpenPGP and Sylpheed 2.

 

Detox -

I think you are right about people thinking it's complicated - That's what I thought before installing Thunderbird. My reasoning was: Tons of people use Firefox, but relatively few use Thunderbird, therefore Thunderbird must be complicated. Exactly the reverse was true! The default mail application I was using had a stupid layout with the buttons you need put way off in the far corners of the screen. The layout only let you see a portion of your inbox contents if you had more than would fit on the screen, the spam blocker was completely inept, important options were either non-existent or buried.

The only hurdle one has to get past is installing it as the default mail application. In my case, Comcast had excellent instructions in their help page. It's not hard - only took a minute, but it was not totally automatic like the firefox install was.

I took a screenshot of the instructions on how to install it. They are excellent because not only do they give the steps, but also the show pictures of all the dialog boxes with the appropriate entries made. Unfortunately, with all those dialog boxes it makes the JPEG file 540 kb, so I can't post it, which is too bad. Had I had those instructions at my fingertips, I would have installed Thunderbird much, much sooner!

- HandsOff!

P.S. - I also recommend driving a Thunderbird convertible!

 

I'm still using Outlook Express.

 

I made the change to thunderbird several versions ago and it just keeps getting better. I run four pop3 accounts on TB and it never fails to work just perfectly. At least so far.

 

I use Thunderbird, never misses a beat.

 

Nothing but Thunderbird on all my PCs. If asked by a client.......Thunderbird.

 

I have never used Outlook nor Outlook Express. I started using TheBAt ages ago, when the early v1.x versions were current and I still prefer it to most of the other contenders out there. The only other client I've tried which I really like is Pocomail, and I never saw the instability referred to in the article. :shrug:

 

I have used multiple e-mail clients. They were, in chronological order (from the first to the one I use now): Outlook Express, Foxmail, Thunderbird, M2, and now, Espresso (http://www.kidmoses.com). I like Espresso because it can easily sort out the junk mail through permissions-based filtering. It also has an icon set that's somewhat similar to Outlook Express, but with its own unique touch.

 

Same as trickyricky I never used Outlook or Outlook Express.
My first one was IncrediMail, which for reasons well known I dumped.
At work I use Eudora only, but it's certainly not the email client I prefer.
It works well, but not a lot has changed in functionality.

I'm also a registered user of The Bat, but IMO it's not for everyone.
You really need to learn how to use all those features.
It really had a buggy start with the new version, but they're catching up and fixing those annoying bugs.
However it's a very fine email client once you get to know it better.

My preferred email client is Barca Pro, PocoMail's big brother.
Concerning the stability I don't know what that reviewer is talking about.
Else he had an issue with NVidia drivers, as well known on our forum, or his poco.ini file got corrupt.

I do agree that the Bayesian filter doesn't work for everyone, although I sure can't complain,
since not one junk message gets in my InBox.
As for the sync, well that's something unknown, also due to the unsure future of Palm devices
and the trouble getting that sync to work, which it did once, but that was an alfa-version.

Further more I've used BizMail , FastTrackMail, Pegasus, FoxMail, Bloomba,
Courier, Thunderbird and a lot of others to find the one I need.
Not easy once you start looking for a replacement.

 

Hello-

The only point I was trying to make is the words, its simple to install, click here for instructions would have got me on board much faster. The mail client, appart from security even, is a big part of our computer experience. I mail client that is lame makes a big part of our computer experience lame. That's a big price to pay over the weeks and months and years that people continue using something that's wastes a lot of time and effort.


-HandsOff