Why has eset discontinued support for Mozilla Thunderbird email client?

I read a thread from 2009 in which the moderator said that eset had discontinued support for Mozilla Thunderbird "temporarily." I see from the chart on the eset website that eset still doesn't support Thunderbird from version 6.x on. Thunderbird is now up to version 9.x.

There are a lot of people running Windows PCs who despise the Windows Live Mail client and who are using Thunderbird instead.

What's the problem with making Smart Security compatible with Thunderbird? We are basically paying for functionality (the anti-spam feature) that we aren't getting. And it looks like eset just doesn't care.

I'd appreciate an explanation.

 

Email received via POP3/IMAP is scanned regardless of the email client used. It is not that ESET has discontinued support for Thunderbird; there's a plug-in for all versions up till v5. However, due to a very quick development cycle employed by Mozilla when significant changes are made to the code requiring 3rd party email plug-ins to be substantially rewritten on a frequent basis it is not possible to have support in the form a plug-in for recent versions of Thunderbird.

 

Hi. Just registered to ask this question, as I cannot find a contact link on Eset's website (maybe looking in the wrong place?). Mozilla have released an ESR version as of the end of Jan that will have a 54 week life. Would ESET be able to code a spam plugin for that rather than the regular Thunderbird? I am still on Thunder 3.1.X due to the fact that I hate the 6 week cycle.

 

Eset's been an important part of my system's security since it was first introduced, and I've certainly appreciated Eset from its very beginnings because it has been my experience that Eset offers me the most configurable array of options in relation to my requirements when it comes to security.

As an aside, I run Malwarebytes Pro in conjunction with Eset Smart Security and have yet to come across a malware or virus that has been encountered that wasn't successfully blocked beyond what product reviewers seem to experience. The two programs, working together, are an excellent complement to one another—and therefore security as needed in today's online environment, of which email is a significant part.

That's why I guess I'm disappointed about Eset's decision to cease ensuring their Spam plug-in's continued compatibility with FireFox, even though even I dislike the Mozilla team's decision to do these version jumps—which to me sounds like when Microsoft jumped their Microsoft Word from version 2 all the way to version 6, simply because they thought they were losing sales because people bought based on the higher version number, thinking it to be more advanced and full-of-features. But since this isn't Mozilla's site and I'd be complaining to the wrong choir. ;-)

My point being this: just like I use Malwarebytes Pro in tandem with Eset to provide my system with the best array of tools to keep the rest of the system secure and relatively safe, I have depended upon Eset's Spam plug-in for Thunderbird from the very moment it was available for purchase—because while more effective than other emailing software on the market today, Thunderbird still doesn't seem to catch spam, even when told it is such, or filtering is performed... whereas Eset did catch them.

If there is any way that Eset can reconsider their decision to abandon development of the Spam plugin for Thunderbird, I would certainly support that decision.

Timothy Kline / ENVISIONocity.com

 

It's fully in the hands of Mozilla; they should stop making significant changes in every new build, forcing AV vendors to substantially rewrite their plug-ins. The development cycle of the plug-ins is far more longer than Mozilla's (coding, QA testing).

 

I think most people can agree that the 6 week update schedule is painful to keep up with, but as hcbosman pointed out, the ESR versions won't get significant updates for a year. Of course ESET can support or drop support for any product it likes, but it might be worth considering that a product with a 1 year lifespan may be worth supporting.

 

I upgraded to Thunderbird 10, and then reverted back to 3.1 when I realized the ESET plugin does not work with Thunderbird 10. I would certainly switch to Thunderbird 10 ESR if ESET was able to work with the 1-year update cycle and provide a plugin for the ESR version.

This article has a pretty good summary of Mozilla's ESR plans and links to more info:
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutoria...-enterprise-plans-for-firefox-and-thunderbird

If ESET looks into Thunderbird ESR and decides to continue the no-support policy, I would be interested to know the reasons behind the decision. I hope ESET will post its reasons on this forum.

 

This is why I mentioned the Mozilla ESR releases. People using ESET and Mozilla Thunderbird should be encouraged to move to the ESR release. Another important and vital thing to remember is that Mozilla will discontinue any support for Thunderbird 3.1.X / Firefox 3.1.X and that includes security updates.

It is really looney what Mozilla have decided - a 6 week update cycle. I don't mind security packages, but I don't want new features every so often. They should go back their previous policy. It is ridiculous the numbering of the versions too!!!!!!

I will not be changing my email client from Thunderbird to say, Outlook, because I have been using Thunderbird for years now!

So, ESET, please come to the party and develop plug-ins for the Mozilla ESRs.

 

For now i run Thunderbird 5. This is the latest version that the plugin works. I hope to that Eset bring a update for the ESR version.

 

+1


- TZ!

 

Ditto.

All1

 

Any word yet on ESR support?

 

I don't understand why ESET can't do what Avast have done in their Internet Security suite and do the spam filtering outside of the mail client, marking the subject header with a spam indicator. This would allow the user to create a mail rule within the mail client to handle mail marked as spam by the ESS spam filter. It would also ensure compatibility with almost any mail client without requiring a plugin.

There is also an Avast plugin for supported mail clients to automatically handle any email marked as spam by the filter. Thunderbird is a supported mail client and the plugin is regularly updated to work with the latest releases. Maybe by keeping the plugin simple, restricting its scope to handling mail already marked as spam, Avast have an easier job than ESET in keeping up with the Mozilla rapid release cycle.