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Mobility Email reaches Beta 4

Posted by Hemos on from the refining-themselves-more dept.

Shane M Coughlan writes "Mobility Email Beta 4 has now been released. It is the fourth beta release of the portable distribution. It is stable enough for people to use as an every day email client. This version changes a configuration option in Mozilla Thunderbird to prevent crashes with the new in-line spell checker. Mobility Email is a full version of Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5b2 with added OpenPGP and Webmail extensions. It is portable, and can run from a USB drive without being installed on a computer. "

58 comments

  1. Windows only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its Windows only - count me out...

    1. Re:Windows Only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't Columbia be better suited as a base for this project?

    2. Re:Windows Only by joemadeus · · Score: 1

      I don't think the site says it's windows only specifically, but it mentions windows and nothing else. That's a bummer, but prob'ly a technical issue: you can't run Linux binaries on a windows machine, after all (well, not without some emulator, that is.) Besides, most people still run some version of windows even if they use other OSs, too. -j

    3. Re:Windows Only by Mozk · · Score: 2, Informative

      It says right in the second paragraph, "Simply plug your USB key into any Windows computer in the world and boom." Plus, the download is an .msi file.

      --
      No existe.
    4. Re:Windows Only by Mistshadow2k4 · · Score: 1

      Ok, so the Linux version is too buggy for now. We can wait. But will it run with Wine? And if so, do you need to tweak it to get it to run right? It seems info on that is skimpy at best. Anyone know?

      --
      I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
    5. Re:Windows only by tezbobobo · · Score: 1

      But it is good to see OSS for windows, especially windows only. I was hoping for an OS X version. However, if people start to recognise OSS they may be more inclined to jump in feet first to something like GNU/Linux. Too often these things are like Gimp - a great program, grafted horribly into a new OS. Ever tried using OO.org on OS X?

    6. Re:Windows Only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For a start, that should be "Microsoft Windows", and it doesn't say, or even imply, "only".

      ...what's an .msi file and how are we supposed to know that is Microsoft only?

    7. Re:Windows Only by hey! · · Score: 1

      Yeah, looks like windows only.

      There's a bit of a implied criticism in some of the "this is Windows only" responses (not yours) which I'd like to address. The project at this point appears to be one guy who's making a hobby of scratching his itch , with a couple of buddies to help him with testing, and he's trying to drum up some developers get some momentum.

      Under the circumstances, I say good for him for trying, and there's no particular reason for him to do a *nix port. He may as well make it as good as he can, and if it's good and it's open source it will appear on Linux soon enough.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  2. Configurable Crashes... by turnage · · Score: 4, Funny
    "This version changes a configuration option in Mozilla Thunderbird to prevent crashes with the new in-line spell checker."

    See, that's where Windows goes wrong. People like their crashes configurable.

  3. Unintentionally true by gunpowda · · Score: 4, Funny
    Simply plug your USB key into any Windows computer in the world and boom.

    Only to be expected I suppose!

  4. Gmail has this feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Gmail can run without being installed into a pc.

    1. Re:Gmail has this feature by Bambi+Dee · · Score: 2, Insightful

      True, but Gmail won't handle several different POP, IMAP, NNTP and RSS accounts/feeds in a single, drag-and-drop-capable, somewhat customisable interface (if I'm not mistaken)...

  5. The Future Looks Good by Bad+to+the+Ben · · Score: 4, Insightful
    For those of you particularly worried about privacy (like me), I found this in the FAQ:
    To make Mobility more secure, we'd like to develop a system log-in application that encrypts your profile and email until you enter a password (as you can imagine, this would make losing your USB key with Mobility Email on it less of a problem).

    That's an excellent idea. USB keys are so easy to lose, I don't like the idea of carrying around a whole bundle of potentially compromising emails on them. I think I'll be waiting for this functionality before I start using it, but so far I like the direction the team is taking.
    1. Re:The Future Looks Good by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 1

      I don't like the idea of carrying around a whole bundle of potentially compromising emails

      Dare I ask what it is you're up to that makes you emails "compromising"?

      --

      People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
    2. Re:The Future Looks Good by Taladar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The easiest example are password reminders. You don't want to change all your password when losing your USB stick (or even worse have them changed for you by the finder).

      --
      Linux is not Windows
    3. Re:The Future Looks Good by jsolis · · Score: 1

      I always wondered what people were referring to when they were so worried about other people reading their e-mail. I don't know about you guys, but the worst thing people would find out about me if they read my e-mail is where my football game is being played this weekend. They might also find out how retarded my friends are. But that's about it. Although password reminders is a good example of something you wouldn't want getting out there, which is why if the reminder is my actual password, I usually delete that e-mail and make sure I expunge.

    4. Re:The Future Looks Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is your stored PGP key or typed PGP passphrase protected when you open them up on a foreign computer?

  6. How is this any better... by IANAAC · · Score: 1
    than a decent PDA email client?

    I guess I don't get it. I can't se the advantage of having an email app on a thumb drive, other than for reference purposes, in which case you don't actualy need the app.

    1. Re:How is this any better... by Star_Gazer · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't use it but I easily see the advantage. I have 5 different IMAP accounts configured in my mailer. All of those are needed for different purposes. Without my notebook, I have to check five different webmail pages when I am at friends places or at an internet café and I can't send gpg signed mails at all. With this program, I just use the USB port, open the app and voilá - there is my mail.

      A PDA is not an option because it won't work when there is no connectivity for external devices (like in most non-geek homes) and it's much bigger than a USB stick.

    2. Re:How is this any better... by Fred_A · · Score: 1

      The obvious way would be to have your own webmail polling the various IMAP accounts...

      But that still leaves the problem of the WebCafe. It means you implicitly trust the machine you use. The problem is the same whether you use your own application or one that's on the machine.

      And using ssh to your own machine isn't much better. First, try mentionning ssh to pretty much any webcafe owner and enjoy the blank stare, and you *still* have to trust the machine you type on.

      My solution is simple, if I know I'll have to rely on webcafes, either I bring my own laptop (if some kind of real communication or IT stuff on my part is expected), or I use a dedicated free webmail account (à la Yahoo or whatever) that is used exclusively for communication while I'm away. If that password is grabbed, I know I couldn't care less.
      On the downside, I have to either warn the people who write me beforehand or add forwarding rules on my mail server.

      Anyway when I'm travelling (for leisure), my only form of communication will usually be postcards (the carboard kind). If the word fell apart each time I was unreacheable, I'm sure we'd all know about it, so I just enjoy the quiet.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    3. Re:How is this any better... by Fred_A · · Score: 1

      Oh, btw, the last character in "voilà" is "a" with a grave accent, not acute.

      Still impressive though, not only did you not confuse it with a stringed instrument, you even knew it was accented :)

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    4. Re:How is this any better... by Star_Gazer · · Score: 1

      Today, my less than perfect solution to the trust problem (except running around with the Powerbook all the time) is to change the passwords as soon as possible and to avoid using untrusted public terminals. Unfortunately, that's not always possible and usually gives me a bad feeling.

      Thinking further, I wouldn't put my PGP keyring with the private keys onto an USB stick to use at public terminals because I couldn't be sure that the contents of the stick isn't dumped somewehere as soon as I plug it in.

      Regarding the accent confusion - thanks for the hint, but will you believe me I only forgot to press the shift key while composing the letter? ;)

      BTW, I even can differentiate between viola and violin, although for me as a cellist it's merely the difference in the kind of annoyance both create ;)

    5. Re:How is this any better... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was told a method to deter password theft by keystroke.

      Type a wide selection of characters (man ascii?) into a window (notepad?), and copy/paste the relevant ones into the password field.

      Someone told me that some people take screen shots too these days and, perhaps, this method would be vulnerable too; but they'd have to take a movie to get all the letters, I think.

    6. Re:How is this any better... by KingVance · · Score: 1

      This is very true. The world operated quite nicely before everybody could get all 5 of their email accounts on a whim.

      The world will not blow up if you do not answer your emails within 24 hours.

      I was on vacation for the past week, did not leave OOA or forwarding rules on, and told relatively few people.

      The sky is still standing.

      Although I did get about 9 phone calls per day to my cell phone to which i promptly ignored. It was funny, each message got just a little more desperate.

    7. Re:How is this any better... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another solution:
      Use Fetchmail to consolidate email to 1 machine, and then access the email from that machine via IMAP, webmail, ssh & mutt, etc...

  7. Windows Only by 12ahead · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is kind of hard to find on the linked page, but this is Windows only.

  8. Why is this good? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is so good about this? If I want mobility I will use a web based client... Now if you can replicate my entire PC on this USB drive then I would be interested.

  9. Who Is This For? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So it's Portable Thunderbird tarted up for Mac people and restricted to Windows computers?

  10. Windows and Linux versions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was a tester for this software, and I can tell you that the Windows version is excellent. Smooth UI and generally a joy to use.

    The linux version, unfortunately, is very buggy and pretty much unusable. Hopefully they'll bring the Linux version up to scratch soon.

    Until then, I'd stick to a Windows client for email reading.

  11. Ok, I admit it. This is flambait. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    But I'm going to post it anyway.
    What's with all these software announcements lately? So now /. is compeating with Freshmeat?

  12. Linux by javilon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Would it be possible to include the linux executable in the distribution as well, so if you are in a windows machine you run the windows .exe and if you are in a linux machine you run the linux binary, but both access the same data?

    That would be great. Now you are Machine _and_ operating system independent!

    --


    When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
    1. Re:Linux by Inkieminstrel · · Score: 1

      Provided your machine is x86 and your operating system is Windows or Linux.

  13. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Well, then tell me where to find an internet cafe or a default home user pc with an ssh client installed...

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  14. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by chrisgeleven · · Score: 2, Informative

    Unless you use a computer from 1998, the following Windows versions should work with any USB stick without asking for a driver disk.

    ME, 2000, XP, 2003

    98 SE needs a driver, but those are easy to burn onto a CD if you really need to use a 98 SE computer. The original 98 and 95 have crappy USB drivers, so they aren't usually supported anyways for this kind of stuff.

    I know MacOS X can use USB drives fine, probably MacOS 9 too (although I cannot verify this).

    I have no idea about Linux, but I imagine most Linux computers that are up-to-date can use USB drives with no driver issues. Besides, how many Linux computers on the road do you expect to find?

  15. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by imemyself · · Score: 1

    No need to install, just download the standalone Putty executable and run.

    --
    Every time you post an article on Slashdot, I kill a server. Think of the servers!
  16. hrmm.. the usb drive option by jkind · · Score: 1

    So I can just load this on my cruzer sandisk usb drive, and check my email whenever I'm near a working USB port??

    --
    ~jennifer.k~
    1. Re:hrmm.. the usb drive option by shanecoughlan · · Score: 1

      Yes, exactly. You can take your email with you as long as you have a USB drive. You can check your email in any public terminal.

  17. ok, so... by CDPatten · · Score: 1

    I just tried it and really don't see anything to special about it. The usb thing is kinda cool, but its not the only app that can run without being installed on a machine. Why is a big deal?

  18. Standards by Donny+Smith · · Score: 1

    > It is stable enough for people to use as an every day email client.

    There are many clients that are "stable enough" - why use this particular client?

    Are such news newsworthy?

  19. OMG wtf by Pichu0102 · · Score: 1

    This would be great, except whenever I put a USB drive in my computer, it asks for the drivers, even though I already have the drivers on the USB drive. Stupid computer.

  20. Coming soon: by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 1

    Its Windows only - count me out...

    Coming soon: Portability Email, Beta 1 :P

  21. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by alan.briolat · · Score: 1

    Even better, just download the Putty executable and put it on a USB drive. Then you can use it anywhere!

    Sounds like a 'vim' user, shunning usable interfaces for hardcore elitism.

    Not to mention what happens if you don't have a computer with a sshd running on it. This idea of a GUI mail client made completely portable is definitely a good thing for the average user.

    --
    I swear we should be allowed to give mod points to sigs... "-1, Offtopic"
  22. This is new to everyone by neclimdul · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've been using Portable Thunderbird for over a year

  23. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

    > ... and put it on a USB drive. Then you can use it anywhere!

    Now go and find me one public (aka internet cafe) teminal thatallows you to stick in a usb-device and execute arbitary programs!

    For the owner of the cafe this would be the dumbest thing he could do. Because only some days later he would own a beowulf-cluster of zombie-servers... ;P

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  24. Looks suspicious to me... by suspicious!one · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I could not see any polite nods to the original Portable Thunderbird project by John Haller: http://johnhaller.com/jh/mozilla/portable_thunderb ird/

    Or to John Urbanek who originally put together Portable Thunderbird with Enigmail/GPG ages ago: http://dev.weavervsworld.com/projects/ptbirdeniggp g/

    Is this a complete rip-off or what?

    1. Re:Looks suspicious to me... by jurbanek · · Score: 2, Informative

      I am the author of Portable Thunderbird with Enigmail / GPG (PTEG). I have been following Mobility Email and have had correspondence with its author (Shane). I took a look a the latest release (Beta 4).

      It is composed mainly of JH latest PTB release (based on Deer Park) and the launcher that JH, myself, and many others have been tweaking for the past year to get it to what it is today. Mobility Email relies on those two pieces and adds a few additional extensions (RTFA to find out which ones), "pretty" documentation, and a lot of marketing speak.

      That being said I think it is a good thing for several reasons. The most important of which is that it attempts to de-geekify (not a word) the whole signing/encrypting/portable mail thing. Many layman are thrown off by the geek nature of the sites that JH and I have for our work. Shane's work makes it easier (partly in part because it is pretty) for the layman to get into it.

      Sure it is a rip-off in some sense. The technical work has nearly all been done. It is a repackaging of what is out there. The same could be said for what I put together off of JH's PTB. Although I did a chunk of programming and tweaked the launcher heavily, with some changes being added back into JH's vanilla launcher. Shane does give nods to the community, you just have to search for it.

      From TFA:

      What is included with Mobility Email?

      Mobility Email is based on Portable Thunderbird with Enigmail/GPG by John Urbanek.

      The specific software included in the distribution is:

              * Thunderbird 1.5 Beta 2 (with additions by John T. Haller).
              * Enigmail 0.93.0 by the Enigmail Team.
              * GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) 1.4.2 (Win32) by GNU.
              * WebMail 0.7.0 by the WebMail Team.
              * Hotmail 0.8.0 for WebMail by the Webmail Team.
              * Yahoo! 0.5.1 for WebMail by the Webmail Team.
              * MailDotCom 0.4.1 for Webmail by the WebMail Team.
              * Lycos 0.6.1 for Webmail by the WebMail Team.
              * Talkback 1.4.1 by the Mozilla Team.

      The only thing I was a little surprised at was that he didn't include the source to the launcher, which is what really does all the magic. JH and I have been including it since the beginning. Maybe Shane is trying to hide as much of the technical fluff as possible from the end user. Either way, I think what he is doing is a step in the right direction.

      On another note, I'll be releasing a version of PTEG based off of Deer Park not too long from now. Many have been asking for the feature to encrypt the profile directory as well. I am eventually planning on rewriting the launcher in C (or something more powerful than NSIS) and utilizing some of the symmetric encryption capabilities of GnuPG to encrypt the profile folder.

      -John

    2. Re:Looks suspicious to me... by shanecoughlan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, as John says I'm trying to "de-geekify" the rather new field of portable/encrypted applications. Rip off is very much a relative term, especially in the opensource world. We build on what others do. My own part in this game is not that of brave programmer, but rather as a person who spends time configuring, testing, and distributing systems. Thankfully there are people like John creating great technologies, and with a little luck we can take them into the mainstream.

      The PortableThunderbird launcher (with hooks for GnuPG) that is included with Mobility Email is the exact same one that John uses. The source code for the launcher can be obtained by contacting me. You can do so through the Mobility Email website at http://mobility.shaneland.co.uk/

  25. Editors and Submitters: WTF Rule by fm6 · · Score: 1

    People, the most important rule in newswriting is what I call the WTF rule: in the first sentence, you make it clear WTF you're talking about, so people know whether they want to read further. As in "Mobility Email, the Thunderbird extension for virtual goat sex" or whatever.

  26. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by linguae · · Score: 1
    Sounds like a 'vim' user, shunning usable interfaces for hardcore elitism.

    Hey, watch that flamebait. If vi[m] were unusable, then nobody would use it. Heck, I use vi all the time. Oh wait, silly me, I forgot. An interface can't be "usable" unless it has a shinee, gooee, clickee Mickey Mouse interface with all of the icons and translucency and so on....

    It's just amazing how GUI people call us people who love command-line interfaces "elitists", and call anything that doesn't have an icon "unusable." Once again, if command lines were unusable, then nobody (as in zero people) would be using them. Give me a break!

  27. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by alan.briolat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I never said command lines were unusable - I have 3 computers that don't even have a GUI installed. I prefer command lines for most things. However, when it comes to the uses some people put things like vi(m) to, its just plain jumping through hoops trying to get anything done.

    But then again, its all a matter of opinion. I've tried vi, vim, emacs, etc, and my opinion is that I prefer to spend a higher percentage of my time working within the interface, not with the interface. But if it truly works for you, good.

    And your generalisation about 'GUI people' is as bad as mine about 'vim users'. Yeah, so what, I like to use something with a graphical interface. It doesn't have to be pretty or bloated though. Just easy to use. Intuitive. Where is the intuition in using 'vi' ? Lets face it, vi(m) will always remain a small percentage, because the interface yells "RTFM" at people who just want to get one with some plain ol' text editing. Although I don't deny its power, there are much easier ways of doing the same thing.

    Now to wait for a vi-weilding moderator to come mod this as Troll...

    --
    I swear we should be allowed to give mod points to sigs... "-1, Offtopic"
  28. quotes from the website by moosesocks · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Mobility Email is the hottest email product in the world."

    "The best thing about Mobility Email is that it's totally mobile. "

    "Simply plug your USB key into any Windows computer in the world and boom."

    These guys have a remarkable talent for overstatement, redundancy, and frightening users.

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    1. Re:quotes from the website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These guys have a remarkable talent for overstatement,... Not sure how many 'guys' are involved. As this has been plugged to the Enigmail team and list, I can't say I recall any use of "we" or "our" just "I" and "my." My bet is on it being a one-man-show. "Overstatement"? That and marketing-speak. I flinched when I read about his wanting to 'productize' Enigmail.

    2. Re:quotes from the website by shanecoughlan · · Score: 1

      Mobility Email originally started out as a small personal project to extend PortableThunderbird with Enigmail. It later extended into a full distribution, and now there are three people involved in the day to day development decisions and testing:

      Shane Coughlan
      John Moore III
      Scott Fringer

  29. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by b10m · · Score: 1

    The good thing is that PuTTY will run on Win9[58] too, last time I've checked.

    Besides, how many Linux computers on the road do you expect to find?

    Why would I need a Linux machine "on the road"? I can run a ssh client on basically every half-decent OS and get to a fair FreeBSD server!

  30. Re:Or just the old fashioned way ... by amightywind · · Score: 1

    I have no idea about Linux, but I imagine most Linux computers that are up-to-date can use USB drives with no driver issues. Besides, how many Linux computers on the road do you expect to find?

    With Gentoo USB drives can can mount automatically using udev and hotplug. It works very well, Even with M$ DOS formatted flashkeys.

    --
    an ill wind that blows no good