Entered CNET Catalog: 03/27/2008
SKU: SERVMOZILLATHUNDERBIRD2
Manufacturer: delete
Product summary
The good: Mozilla Thunderbird 2 offers unobtrusive installation; speedy searches; built-in RSS feeds; well-considered security; hundreds of add-ons; and compatibility with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, as well as with Gmail and .Mac accounts.
The bad: Setting up Mozilla Thunderbird 2 may be dead simple for geeks, but steps could be explained better from the start. Built-in features are less extensive than in paid clients, such as Microsoft Outlook, although users with savvy can tack on many add-ons.
The bottom line: Mozilla Thunderbird 2 is a fine, free, extensible e-mail client and a solid alternative to pricey Microsoft Outlook 2007 or the free Windows Live Mail.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/27/2008
The Thunderbird 2 e-mail application comes from Mozilla, the same organization responsible for releasing Firefox, the popular open-source Web browser. Firefox has become the preferred surfing tool for many people who reject Microsoft Internet Explorer. However, will users seeking a Microsoft e-mail alternative turn to Thunderbird?
The answer for open-source aficionados, especially those who use Linux, is likely yes. Mac users, however, are likely to use Apple's Mail, whose fans insist is faster. Although Windows users can pay for Outlook or opt for the Microsoft's smaller, free Windows Live Mail, (which succeeded Outlook Express), we think Thunderbird is a highly attractive alternative for these users.
Setup and interface
Downloading the 6.4MB Thunderbird 2 for Windows took several quick minutes in our tests. On one Windows XP SP2 PC, we imported all of our corporate work e-mail settings from an Outlook account we'd been using for 42 months. That process took nearly 20 minutes. It imported our dozens of in-box folders, but those and the in-box were empty. We had to consult online help to figure out how to get new messages to populate the in-box. On a Windows Vista laptop, we set up Thunderbird only to read messages from a rarely used, 24-month-old Gmail account; that process was nearly instantaneous.
Setup with the free Windows Live Mail was similarly foolproof. By contrast, however, we were glad that Thunderbird didn't ask to change our default browser settings. Nor did it litter our desktop with unwanted icons, as so much freeware often does. Unfortunately, we can't say the same when installing Microsoft Windows Live Mail in a bundle with its otherwise good Windows Live Apps package.
Features
Once Thunderbird 2 is up and running, its layout should be familiar to anyone who has dabbled in Outlook. Messages appear in the center, with folders in the left pane and a menu of commands and options along the top of the window. We're grateful for Back and Forward buttons that help with navigation.
Thunderbird offers many small yet welcome advantages, such as text tagging. That lets you describe the content of, and later quickly retrieve, an e-mail or RSS feed. Tags also let you classify and prioritize messages, such as for work or for handling later. We didn't use a timer, however; we felt that search features were faster in Thunderbird than in the revamped capabilities of Microsoft Outlook 2007. Of course, Thunderbird offers other staple e-mail features, such as a spell-checker and warnings when you receive suspected phishing messages from scam artists.
That said, there aren't as many features in Mozilla Thunderbird 2 as in the full edition of Microsoft Outlook. For instance, we couldn't find a way to attach pictures to contacts. Nor could we preview Office documents within e-mails. While we were happy to see our Outlook contacts imported in their entirety, we disliked that Thunderbird opened a separate window to display them.
Also, we wanted to use Thunderbird on a single computer to read e-mail from various sources as well as RSS feeds. Initial setup, which let us make only one of those choices, didn't make it easy to determine how to do that. Unfortunately, we found it clumsy to set up a signature line (done by setting up a message template) and an automated vacation e-mail reply.
Rather than being managed within a closed corporate ecosystem, many passionate Mozilla developers update Thunderbird. This community has created hundreds of add-ons. Although Thunderbird lacks a calendar and to-do list tool, you can add those separately through Mozilla's Lightning and ReminderFox. That's wonderful news for those willing to search, but a potential hassle for those who'd like everything preinstalled from the start.
Thunderbird renders HTML e-mails via the Firefox browser, which is good. Many users of Microsoft Outlook, on the other hand, complain that it uses a stale version of HTML that fails to breaks the full formatting of some messages.
Service and support
Thunderbird provides online support only, which is reasonable for a free product.
Mozilla's Help pages include step-by-step tutorials with well-illustrated screenshots, as well as FAQs and keyboard shortcuts. However, we wish we could have searched directly within Thunderbird's interface for topics, such as setting up automated vacation messages.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8out of 8 user reviews
Not for big email users
Pros: The price is right, and initially it worked well for me. I liked the calendar add on.
Cons: It's really slow after several months of use. I've read the blogs, used Thunderfix, and tried everything. I won't go back to Outlook, but I'm really dissatisfied with the bloated, slow, quirky responses from Thunderbird. Any suggestions, anyone?
out of 8 user reviews
A nice try - but its no outlook.
Pros: Its free. Its mozilla - so its safe and stable. Initial setup is simple, very easy for someone with a hotmail or google account whos not very computer literate. Not ram greedy, and improved the mail view speed due to the lack of immediate downloads.
Cons: Sync'ing - It seems they love this word, I like my mail to be downloaded and deleted to save server space, but thunderbird was having none of it. The drop down account settings menu becomes EXTREAMLY stressful and difficult to use with multi accounts
out of 8 user reviews
Thunderbird = one-way street to disaster
Pros: Its quick loading
Cons: There is no Export command. It doesnt allow u to export emails once you've realised you installed a useless email client that doesnt allow you to have duplicate email addy etc.
out of 8 user reviews
Bloated files, bugs never fixed
Pros: Free. Accessing and reading mail is easy. Filing options are good.
Cons: I takes up a lot of disk space. Annoying bugs never get fixed.
Files imported from Eudora when I first made the switch are at least 3 times the size of the original Eudora file. Annoying bugs remain, version after version. Thunderbird can't handle embedded images in forwarding email. Deletions and transfers to files hang, and get resolved only by closing and reopening Thunderbird. Reply to all frequently generates "malformed address" errors, forcing manual correction of obvious formatting differences in perfectly good addresses that Thunderbird can't identify or handle. And it finds them only one at a time, putting you through the process multiple times.
Version after version comes out without fundamental everyday bugs being addressed.
out of 8 user reviews
Best Email Client Ever
Pros: The Best Email Client software. See my review for the features and Outlook comparison
Cons: There is no fee, but you will have to spend time on the internet or on the Thunderbird forum and try the add-ons. See it as a long relation-ship based on reciprocity, the more you invest yourself the better usability you can expect.
There is a question of taste and this is a personal matter, but when it comes the functions and software design, Outlook (Entourage on Mac) is no match for Thunderbird. Some people will argue Exchange works best with Outlook, but there are other solution, cheaper and better for a mail server. Thunderbird should be the email client of preference for all the conscientious users, not to mention is is safer to user than Outlook.
out of 8 user reviews
it's not great
Pros: not written by BillG
Cons: spollchicker is lowsy. gimme OutlkXpress anytyme.
Set up is really hard work unless you speak fluent 'geek'
out of 8 user reviews
Very Good.
Pros: Can sign digitally and it works like a charm. Add-Ons.
Cons: Not the sleekest engine. Not a big upgrade from Mail (Apple).
out of 8 user reviews
greatest email client ever
Pros: fast, simple, clean, easy to use, large addon selection
Cons: none that i have found yet
As far as importing your data from outlook... Outlook by far is known to have the worst memory/database/email management system of any client in existence. If you have any more than 100,000 messages total archived in outlook you are almost guaranteed to crash or have a hard time navigating anything.
Obviously most people don't have 100k messages to look between... In the business I'm in though I use multiple email accounts and need the ability to quickly look back at something someone might have sent me months ago. The search capabilities in outlook prove just as bad a performance as its memory management.
I'd recommend thunderbird to anyone.
