I switched mail clients... (Plus a whole lot of other stuff)

OK, I’ve dumped Outlook. Yes, it’s a nice platform, but I’ve decided I don’t really like it. I’ve switched over to the open source (and, of course, free) companion email client to Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird!

I like Thunderbird because it is open source and free, and not only does that mean a good deal for me (can’t beat free ;-) ), but I like what I feel open source/free software does for the software market. Open source software encourages anyone and everyone to “jump in,” to add their voice (or their code, really) to any project, and I like that. If I decide I don’t like a feature Thunderbird, if it’s within my technical skill set to do so I can change or remove that feature in my copy of the program.

As an added bonus: Thunderbird is just plain fast. Yes, any of you Outlook junkies will say “but Outlook has so many more features, and this and that and the other thing” yeah, those are great, and I’ll admit that Outlook certainly has its place. But that place is not as my email client, at least not right now.

I’ve used Thunderbird in the past, but I drifted away from it when Mac OS X Tiger came out, because Mail.app was so well integrated into the OS and supported the new Spotlight feature so well, I instantly gravitated towards it. ( (Up until a few days ago I was using my Powerbook exclusively for email, for security reasons.)

This mention of Mail.app reminds me: Once again, Microsoft is ripping somebody off. I saw a video over on Channel 9 of an interview with the Outlook Express team. (They’re now re-formed as the “Windows Mail” team.) Ok, “Windows Mail” that alone is half rip-off, I mean, yeah, what else are you going to call it? But it still sounds all too familiar.
Also of interest is how much they’re trumpeting their new integrated search feature, it’s the same thing that Mac OS X Tiger already has… so when this comes out in late 2006 it will almost be a two-year old “innovation” and MSFT still thinks they’re being brilliant and original. It’s kind of pathetic, really.

I think Windows Vista (as this new OS is to be called) is really going to be the tipping point for Microsoft. If they can’t get their act together and put out a really good product, they’re going to have some serious customer defections. Especially if one considers the anticipated price tags on their various editions, I mean, from $99 (for what can barely pass as a completed OS.) to $999 (For everything, even the kitchen sink! <g>) (I think those were the numbers? I’d have to look it up…) to get a copy of a really useful OS you’re probably going to have to drop between 2-400 dollars, or you could just get Mac OS X for $130.

Wow, this has really turned into something of a ramble/rant, sorry about that. I guess I’ll go do something besides sit in front of a computer for a while. :-P