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KMail vs. Evolution vs. Thunderbird?

Posted by Cliff on from the MUA-shoot-out dept.

Deemo asks: "I use Mozilla Thunderbird on the Windows machine. Recently I installed kUbuntu, on a separate computer. Since I'm using KDE, the obvious choice is to use KMail as my default mail application. However, I tend to like Evolution's interface better, and I like Thunderbird in general from extensive use of the Windows version. I was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages are of each, and which one Slashdot users recommend for everyday use."

5 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. It's very simple by dpilot · · Score: 3, Informative

    KMail requires that you install a mess of stuff for KDE.

    Evolution requires that you install a mess of stuff for GNOME.

    Thunderbird requires that you install libc, gtk, and X11. If you prefer a stripped-down desktop, KMail and Evolution are non-starters.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  2. Some points of comparison by aminorex · · Score: 3, Informative

    KMail is lean and clean, and it's integrated support for encryption is superior to the plugins and extensions for Thunderbird. I used and loved KMail, but I had to give it up because I use too many computers:

    Thunderbird works essentially everywhere. You can share your mailbox over the LAN filesystem or globally via WebDAV, regardless of whether you are using Windows, OSX, Linux, Solaris, *BSD.

    As far as I know Evolution is best for 1) People who need to interoperate with Exchange servers under Linux, 2) the mentally impaired, and 3) Gnome partisans.
    But then, I never saw a good reason to try it.

    --
    -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
  3. Need to access already-received mail. by gottabeme · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ok, let me give you just one example. A friend of mine runs a mortgage business. I often help him with his computers, Internet service, etc. He receives lots of information via e-mail, including PDF documents, etc. He also spends a lot of time on the phone, and meets with people in person. He has software on his PCs that connects to a remote database, but also has local stores of the data. If his Internet connection went down for a day or two, he would likely still need access to his already-received e-mail so he could continue to do business. And, of course, he'd still need to be able to access his local database stores. If all his data was only stored on web servers, and only accessible by getting online, then a bad DSL/cable day would just about stop him from doing business.

    Come on, this is a no-brainer. :)

    --
    "Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
  4. Evolution has Calendaring by jimpop · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's almost 2006, where is Calendaring w/ Thunderbird? 90% of the world distributes scheduling updates via email (iCal). Outlook and Evolution support iCal, but the Mozilla team keeps leaving it out of Thunderbird. There is some sort of extension for Thunderbird, but I gave up waiting for it to catch up with the Tbird releases. There is some better calendaring app coming from Mozilla, sometime in the future, but I needed integrated calendaring last year, this year, and next year. To me, email and calendaring belong together.

  5. Re:uh. by stevey · · Score: 2, Informative

    I use mutt and it is simple to read HTML mails in mutt if you need to.

    (Sadly I do.)