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KMail vs. Evolution vs. Thunderbird?
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."
I like Evolution, I really do. I miss the 'reply to list' option (even though forums are sadly taking the place of mailing lists and rendering this point mute). But I found that Evolution with built-in Spamassassin from FC4 just wasn't stopping either piece of spam I got each week and it was really starting to annoy me. So I tried out Thunderbird and I'm finding that it does what I need and it's stopping the spam.
YMMV of course.
Each of these clients has good points, and bad points, it's really a matter of trying them each for a while and seeing what happens. Use IMAP and you can do just that, all at the same time if you want.
I personally, currently, use Evolution - I like it's vFolders, I have a vFolder set to show me all unread mail from the last 2 days, across all my IMAP and local email accounts, one for the last week's mail and one to show me all flagged email and emails related to them (my "to do" threads).
I have the last 2 days vFolder open most of the time, as email comes in I can quickly read it, if it's junk then delete it right there, if it needs some attention (work needs doing) I flag it so it goes into my to do list unless it's a reply to something that's already in there.
Then when I want to work on a job, I open the "To Do" vFolder, and I can see all the jobs I have on the go, including all emails related to them (unfortunatly I can't get it to include emails I've sent in reply in the threads..yet), I also use the flag to keep a record of how long I've spent on the job, and use the "Completed" switch in the flag to indicate when I'm done and it's ready to be billed out (when it's billed I clear the flag and the thread drops out of the "To Do" vFolder).
It makes it very easy to manage the large amounts of incoming mail I tend to get, provides a pretty good timesheet system (for me, when I'm working on a job, it's always related to an email, so that's the perfect place to record time spent) and saves me from being frustrated at an INBOX containing several thousand messages!
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I was thinking of replying with this. Combine Mutt, Lynx, Vim (not Emacs because this is a collection of software; if you want Emacs, this list doesn't apply to you as all your applications are available under the Emacs framework), wget, and maybe a few other CLI tools, and you have yourself a very good Internet application suite. ;)
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
I use Seamonkey (Mozilla) mail because I LIKE my mail client integrated with my browser, and I LIKE it staying resident in memory, checking my email every 10 minutes. Oh yeah, the name change was stupid. It's freaking Mozilla. Long live Seamonkey!
I'm in the "if you like it, use it" boat. An email client is just a means to an end, it's not a destination in and of itself.
Personally, I use and recommend "The Bat!" on my Windows boxes. I have what could be called "advanced" needs and this is one awesome program. It allows (automatically) different sigs per account, different sigs per folder, shared folders between multiple users on the same desktop, cookies, etc. It's not free but a short time using it hooked me. If you have some time and perceive some limitations in your existing client(s), give it a shot.
Standard disclaimer, not affiliated, yadda, yadda.
I would love to have an email client that works like it does, which should be possible under Unix using something like Maildir and soft links.
Is anyone aware of such an effort?
I use both thunderbird and KMAIL form multiple computers. KMAIL is now my primary client. The key for me is all my mailboxes are IMAP, and I make sure to specify sent, and trash folders that are on the IMAP server rather than the default local versions.
I don't know how (or why) people choose to live with POP mail boxes. I cannot believe POP3 has not gone the way of telnet. IMAP is so superior, that it really makes little sense to use anything else...
IMAP makes a much bigger difference if you have multiple computers, than the mail client. IMAP makes life easy in a multiple computer world. Most ISPs and hosting companies offer it, but not all of them advertise that fact.
The other cool thing is with IMAP it can be used as a universal remote file server (much like an ftp server) using KDE IOSLAVES enter the url: imap://USERNAME@IMAP.SERVER.HOST.NAME/
You might not have a lot of use for it, but it makes it easy to backup large messages, or an alternate private place to dump some files (especially if you have a large mailbox quota.) On many hosts the IMAP folders are in the user home directory, so browsing via IMAP is an alternate way to manage files on the server.
-MS2k
Well, actually, as far as just notifying goes, Tb works fine. The IMAP idle command works fine with it; it always shows me when I have new messages in folders I have Tb set to check. But I just couldn't get offline caching to work anymore.
Maybe it's a problem with your IMAP server. Some IMAP servers don't support "idle" well.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
I love Kmail, but it has one showstopping bug that makes it unusable for me.
Email "disappears" from my inbox when using IMAP. If I delete an email, or move it to a different folder, about 50% of the time Kmail will appear to delete the email that immediately follows it. It also happens (about 25% of the time) if I simply select a message. If I quit Kmail and restart it, the "disappeared" email returns, but the fact that it happens at all is annoying as hell.
It's been like this since the days of KDE 3.0, and each time a new version of KDE comes out, I check to see if they've fixed it. As of the most recent version, no dice. I'm currently stuck with Thunderbird until they fix it.