Firefox is hot; Thunderbird's not — for good reason

St. Louis Post Dispatch ^ | Dec. 17 2004 | David Sheets

[Graybeard58]

Among the online world’s hottest commodities, nothing sizzles quite like Firefox, the new Web browser by the California-based Mozilla Foundation that’s causing sleeplessness in and around Seattle, Microsoft Corp’s home turf.

Since Version 1.0 of Firefox went public about a month ago, about 10 million Internet Explorer users have seen the white-hot light and switched, gnawing off a huge chunk of IE's dominant market share (about 4 percent of it) while easing their security concerns. (This week, Microsoft announced five new security flaws in IE, bringing the total this year to 45 — or about 43 more than many people consider tolerable. And last week, Penn State University implored its 80,000-plus students and faculty to stop using IE purely for security's sake.)

So, it's logical to think the Foundation's flagship e-mail program, Thunderbird, developed almost in lock step with Firefox and now enjoying its own Version 1.0 release, has superstar numbers in its future as well. After all, Thunderbird's believed to be less vulnerable to online threats than Microsoft's popular Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail products — the same reason behind Firefox's star turn over IE.

But that kind of thinking may only give you headaches.

The Thunderbird-Firefox open-source tandem replaces

[martin_fierro]

Anyone use T-bird?

I'm still using Eudora.

[sinanju]

This lowly homo erectus has been managing on hotmail so I guess I'm free to wander... What exactly must I do to get ahold of these wonders for my own?

[egarvue]

I tried Thunderbird...it looked pretty, but stunk. It would appear to send messages, but wouldn't - I never knew if an email would really arrive or not, most of the time not. I don't know what the problem was, but I won't use it until they make a better version.

[dr_who_2]

I use it because no one seems to be properly maintaining MH. As for Firefox, it has better useability in some respects than Mozilla (particularly with bookmarks), but it has more bugs and glitches. I wish the darn program would stop trying to write to C:\WINDOWS\TEMP. Annoying as hell.

[Jeff Blogworthy]

Eudora rocks. Even with the ads, it's very nice. However, If they ever become overly agressive with the ads - I'm gone.

[cyborg]

homo erectus?

[Betis70]

I use KMail on my linux box and Mail.app on OS X. Required to use Outlook at work.

I may have to take a look at T-Bird.

[JWinNC]

I tried an earlier version, but couldn't see a strong reason to move away from Outlook. I do use FireFox however, miles better than IE. I might try T-Bird again now that it is 1.0 release.

I think this article has a good analysis.

JWinNC

[Betis70]

>>homo erectus?

When I taught anthro class, saying this would always elicit at least few giggles.

[martin_fierro]

homo erectus?

Just a figure of speech. Stop breathing heavy.

< |:)~

[John Lenin]

I like Incredimail.

[mhx]

I use Thunderbird and it works great for me.

[Cicero]

I pick up my email with Outlook Express. Never any problems. I sweep six mailboxes regularly with it--POP3 and IMAP.

[Minus_The_Bear]

same here, I use Thunderbird and haven't had a single problem. Much better than Outlook and way better at stopping spam.

[sinanju]

homo erectus?

An early hominid, first discovered in late nineteenth century, then called "Peking Man" and "Java Man." Given rightful and generally accepted place on human family tree by Lewis Leakey in the fifties. Believed to have used the most primitive stone tools and may have used fire. Expert opinion is divided on when exactly they went extinct but there is some evidence a few remaining colonies may have shared the planet continguously with Homo Neaderthalensis and modern Homo Sapiens Sapiens.

[Graybeard58]

See what you started?

[sinanju]

When I taught anthro class, saying this would always elicit at least few giggles.

If I knew the purile company I was in I would have said "Pithecanthropus" or "Neanderthal" or something else.

So is it worth the trouble to try out these tools and if so where do I go?

[sarah_f]

Dammit, you'll all use IE like you're supposed to!

It's part of the OS!

And it's secure!

billg@microsof
V5xLO80YHaTkrrAJyj6L/i36prtYOe8WuUDpB2q4ieHLq9zxWehI1Lfh7/jQ8qa59Mq483FCa9Jt6bMYD7C5O/HC275SrkfHllO0oG6jcS3n1BMY/Vi2fv01fjUp5KIsQ+cphSLiIaeGF5NJR9mN3zR4UbyWLlRxwGmYWKtz9xTT6c1jsoHmN+mFlX8wGZBw+5Z7IlH0U0d3YHE52eH4BRl4xsr7I7IV2Z/9/7X2xl21n5pmJ0CS96AY55M/wd8O9cg/

Windows critical STOP @ C000:FFFF
buffer overflow

Please upgarde to Windows Secure Server 2005 (TM)
Brian Valentine, Chief BS Architect, Redmond.

[I got the rope]

OK...I'm using firefox now....why does everything look like its italicized