What's the point of programs such as Thunderbird and Evolution?

[NintendoTogepi]

Why not just go to the website (gmail, hotmail, yahoo mail, etc.) to read and send email?

[jespdj]

Because some people want their e-mail locally, so that they can use it while not connected to the Internet.

I love Gmail and I don't use an offline e-mail program myself.

[Dixon Bainbridge]

Why not just go to the website (gmail, hotmail, yahoo mail, etc.) to read and send email?

If the internet is down, or not accessible, you're screwed. I like to be able to access email wherever I am, at all times, offline.

[evilempire]

Man, reading this made me feel old!

"Back in my day... we only had Eudora, and we liked it"

But seriously, I use Gmail, but access it through Thunderbird at home because I want a store of it locally, and also because I just prefer composing and looking through emails on a email program. Webmail just feels sluggish to me. But I'm guessing that those that were brought up on webmail don't see why you would want to do it any other way...

[Kvark]

What is the point of programs such as Open Office and Abiword? Why not just go to the website (Google docs, Microsoft Office Live, OpenGoo, etc) to do office work?

Or for that matter why use chat programs instead of websites like MSN's web messenger, listen to locally stored music instead of web radio or play chess with a program instead of on a website?

It's a matter of taste if you prefer to use web based applications or programs, I'm glad both options exist.

[Tibuda]

Some providers don't have a webmail interface.

[dox_drum]

I hadn't realiced that of checking the mail off-line. Until now I ask myself what the point of evolution was... Thank you guys.

Enjoy!

[73ckn797]

I remember when there was only snail mail, telephones, telegrams, and pen and paper or a typewriter.

These days are a big improvement and offer many ways to communicate that are far more faster and accessible.

The choices are almost as many as there are people with different desires. Use what does the job for you.

[jomiolto]

Using an actual e-mail client also helps to organize mail from multiple e-mail addresses. I have 4 e-mail addresses that I check daily and with Opera Mail I can check all of them conveniently at once.

[BigSilly]

I have a GMail account, but I still much prefer to use Thunderbird and my local account. I have this perception that it's safer than web-based mail, though I'm not sure how correct that is.

[adamlau]

Precision filtering. LDAP and integrated address book features. GnuPG.

[sujoy]

also logging in and out of 5 accounts is cumbersome.

[miggols99]

Didn't GMail get an upgrade so it could be used offline?

[jenkinbr]

+1

Searching for blog entry.

[spazz135]

Ya I have To Agree With people i mean its nice to go into thunderbird and look at oast emails and not be connected to the net when it is not available. I use Gmail Myself and the only thing i dont like is that when you are using a program to check your messages it doesnt delete the web mail messages so that inbox just keeps filling up and you may never notice it.:p

[jenkinbr]

+1

Searching for blog entry.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html

[igknighted]

Using an actual e-mail client also helps to organize mail from multiple e-mail addresses. I have 4 e-mail addresses that I check daily and with Opera Mail I can check all of them conveniently at once.

While I like to have an offline version of my emails as well, online mail providers such as gmail allow you to do this as well. I get 7 different email addresses in gmail, and can send from all of them through gmail also.

[billgoldberg]

I have two email accounts.

A gmail one and a hotmail one.

On my Windows 7 partition I use Windows Live Mail because it can read from both email addresses.

Sadly Evolution (or other clients) on the Linux side of things can't read from my hotmail account, so it's not worth using it for just one account.

[benny bronx]

Thunderbird reads my hotmail account. I don't know about outgoing with hotmail since I don't use it for that.

[MikeTheC]

I used to use email clients, but I don't anymore. It's just different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

I don't use email clients anymore for a couple of significant reasons. First, I don't like having to keep track of what email is on what computer. Second, I don't like having "yet one more thing" to worry about trying to somehow back up, and then having to worry about forward compatibility with newer versions of that email client, or cross-compatibility with other email clients.

Web-based email, particularly at the level that Gmail and some others offer it, represents such a more elegant and efficient solution.

As far as "Oh, I don't want to be cut off from my email if I don't have access to the Internet," while I can appreciate the force of that argument, other than look at it on screen or print it (which you should have already done if the email is that critical) it's not like you can do much else with it offline anyhow.

[FuturePilot]

Why not just go to the website (gmail, hotmail, yahoo mail, etc.) to read and send email?

Email clients are more convenient (at least I find them to be), they have some more advanced features that the web interfaces don't offer, and I hate web interfaces. I prefer client side applications.

[chucky chuckaluck]

Using an actual e-mail client also helps to organize mail from multiple e-mail addresses. I have 4 e-mail addresses that I check daily and with Opera Mail I can check all of them conveniently at once.


also logging in and out of 5 accounts is cumbersome.

i have four accounts that i use regularly (2 gmail and 2 road runner). i get them all at one gmail address without having to sign in and out for each one.

[Tibuda]

Ya I have To Agree With people i mean its nice to go into thunderbird and look at oast emails and not be connected to the net when it is not available. I use Gmail Myself and the only thing i dont like is that when you are using a program to check your messages it doesnt delete the web mail messages so that inbox just keeps filling up and you may never notice it.:p
You should use IMAP instead of POP. It's like dropbox for mail.

[Foster Grant]

Ya I have To Agree With people i mean its nice to go into thunderbird and look at oast emails and not be connected to the net when it is not available. I use Gmail Myself and the only thing i dont like is that when you are using a program to check your messages it doesnt delete the web mail messages so that inbox just keeps filling up and you may never notice it.:p

Gmail can be set to delete messages when they're downloaded via POP3. It's in Gmail's settings under "Forwarding and POP."

I prefer a real e-mail program to webmail and other "cloud" nonsense for privacy and convenience reasons. I set Kmail to check my e-mail accounts every five minutes, so unless I have no 'Net access at all it's going to be current and I don't have to worry about 'Net traffic jams, DDOS attacks on servers &c. It's just there and one less thing I have to worry about.

[FuturePilot]

Gmail can be set to delete messages when they're downloaded via POP3. It's in Gmail's settings under "Forwarding and POP."

I think there's also a setting in most clients like "leave messages on server"


I prefer a real e-mail program to webmail and other "cloud" nonsense
I agree. I hate this "cloud" fad.

[cb951303]

1- filters
2- multiple accounts
3- groupware (such as exchange)
4- local contact list
5- ability to sync with your phone
...

There are too many, I can't even list all of it....

[koenn]

I've been using email since before webmail existed, and the first web mail interfaces I remember had far less features than even a simple mail program, so I'm used to using a local mail client and look upon webmail as 'for emergencies'.

Also, in a business setting, a company usually has its own mail server for both internet mail and internal mail, combined with groupware/collaboration functionality. This usually works best with a suitable client. Evolution is meant to be a free software alternative to such client programs. You can also wonder how much sense there is in send internal company mail through internet servers, not to mention confidentiality and privacy concerns.

Also, web interfaces tend to be less responsive or slower than 'real' programs because you need to reload a page for every action to take effect (although recent technology such as ajax and the likes help to mitigate this)

[Corfy]

I couldn't stand using a webmail interface for all my mail, for several reasons.

1 - Speed
With web mail, you have to download the list of emails, and then you have to download the messages, and if you need to sift through old messages, you need to sort through the pages because you only see 50-100 messages at once, where as clients have all of the emails right there, you just need to scroll through. Search may be better with webmail clients, but I still find a lot of emails visually, and that is easier with clients.

2 - Notifications
With web mail, you typically don't get a notification when you get a new email. Oh, there are some ways to get around this. If you are running Google Chat, it can inform you if you get a new email in Gmail, but if you aren't using Google Chat, or you are using a different program, you may not have any notification that you have a new message, and you can't tell unless you refresh the page. Also, if I read a message today, I'd rather not wait for that same message to download tomorrow and the next day when I need to read it again.

3 - Storage
Oh, sure, Gmail has an insane amount of storage, but not every email provider is so generous. By having my email locally, I am pretty much only limited by my harddrive, I don't have to worry if I am getting close to storage on my email account.

Don't get me wrong, webmail is great for somethings. All my mail accounts can be checked via webmail so I don't have to be at my computer to check, but I definitely prefer to have the messages on my computer.

[caro]

I use Thunderbird for several reasons: I've never liked the way webmail functions; I like the control an email client gives you; I can pull all my emails - including the domains I own - in one place.

If I'm not near my laptop and my Blackberry isn't handy I will use webmail in a pinch though. I also have a "throwaway" Yahoo account I give out for certain circumstances.

[drumsticks]

Webmail's popularity is why email encryption has trouble taking off. Public key cryptography requires keeping your private keys private. Using webmail implies storing your private keys on a server. Alternatively, one can carry their keys with them on a thumb drive, then use some other client to perform the encryption/decryption, which then becomes really no different to having a client-side email application.

I patiently wait for the day encryption for emails and instant messaging becomes standard practise...

[MikeTheC]

I prefer a real e-mail program to webmail and other "cloud" nonsense for privacy and convenience reasons.
Email privacy? Are you nuts? There is no such thing. The moment you put anything on a piece of hardware you don't have physical possession of and absolute and exclusive total control of, you are giving up your privacy.

If anything, *not* using an email client is inherently more secure because none of your email is being stored locally. You may have temp files and cookies, but that's it.

[diablo75]

For business, I prefer to use IMAP/SMTP client like Evolution, because then my emails are no more than ONE click away.

Edit: Just wanted to add, I still use a yahoo account... about as much as I use Myspace... which is only to check and see if anyone is still actually sending me legit email to it or not, and otherwise avoid it because it's just a hassle.

[swoll1980]

With one click you can pull all your mail from several accounts at the same time. Very simple, one program, one password, one click, plus once you pull it down from the internet it stores it locally so you can view off line.

[cariboo]

I think people just use web mail out of habit, when they were younger and living at home they had to use a web mail address, and they just kept with it for convenience.

I have email archived going back to 1994-1995 that I can use thunderbird to read. Web mail just barely existed then, and most of the services have gone through so many changes since then that I truly doubt they would still have 15 years of archived email that you could acces at any time.

The nice thing is that when I start up Thunderbird email from my three accounts are downloaded automatically.

Jim

[gn2]

For quite some time I exclusively used webmail.

The reason for this was that I wanted to separate my e-mail from my ISP service and did not want to pay additional costs for my own domain name and e-mail.

Unfortunately my webmail provider of choice has ceased providing (http://mail.lycos.co.uk/).

The swines.

Just something to bear in mind if you use webmail, make sure that you can create a local back-up, don't rely on the provider.

[Foster Grant]

Email privacy? Are you nuts? There is no such thing. The moment you put anything on a piece of hardware you don't have physical possession of and absolute and exclusive total control of, you are giving up your privacy.

If anything, *not* using an email client is inherently more secure because none of your email is being stored locally. You may have temp files and cookies, but that's it.

Beautiful oxymoron you have going there.

My e-mail is stored locally on a password-secured computer that I have both physical possession of and absolute and exclusive total control of. Therefore, it's inherently more secure than leaving it on a remote webmail server somewhere across the country that I'm not allowed to administer.

GPG (http://www.gnupg.org/) doesn't work right with webmail, as already noted.

[jenkinbr]

I take it that you have your own domain and webserver, then?

[Foster Grant]

Edited to delete sarcasm directed at not-so-smart comment by another.

[jenkinbr]

Sorry, ment mailserver.