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clegends
March 30th, 2010, 12:40 PM
Hi folks, thought I'd start this thread partly for myself, and partly for others wanting to decide between Evolution & Thunderbird.

I originally installed Evolution a few years back as my default mail client under Linux, and eventually made the switch to Thunderbird. TB just seemed fast, friendlier, cooler, more intuitive, and with more features.

Having just updated my netbook to karmic netbook remix, I decided to give Evolution another go. It's supposed to feature better desktop integration than Thunderbird right? Well, enticed by that, and spurred on by the faith the Ubuntu community has put in Evolution, I thought I'd give it a go.

I'm trying really hard to like Evolution. I really want it to be a better experience, but I'm having a very hard time beating the latest Thunderbird release. Could someone please remind me of the advantages of using Evolution instead? It's fast than TB with lightning, but using TB with sunbird (external lightning calendar) seems just as fast, if not faster.

So far I've found that 'desktop integration' with Gnome is the best feature it has over Thunderbird. Well.. what desktop integration? Right... there's Tomboy notes, which I can link to my emails... there's Tasque... which I still haven't figured out what it does... there's the calendar applet which can show my appointments... nifty stuff, sure, but nothing earth shattering I'm willing to give up Thunderbird for.

I'd really like to give it a go, but could use some encouragement. Is anyone actively using Evolution over Thunderbird, and why? WOuld love some feedback people. Cheers.

~dinky

ubunterooster
March 30th, 2010, 12:54 PM
According to a poll I've seen, 2 of 3 Ubuntu users use Thunderbird. I tend to think most of the Evolution-using-third, use it because it is there by default. I tried Evolution, and quickly dumped it. I have no idea why Evolution is there and would not be surprised to see Ubuntu 10.10 replace it with Thunderbird.

clegends
March 30th, 2010, 01:04 PM
Everything I've read points to Evolution having better desktop integration, thus the reason it's included by default... fair enough... but WHAT desktop integration? I can't help but feel like I'm missing something...

ubunterooster
March 30th, 2010, 02:27 PM
everything i've read points to evolution having better desktop integration, thus the reason it's included by default... Fair enough... But what desktop integration? I can't help but feel like i'm missing something...

+1, +1!

Nisal
March 30th, 2010, 02:41 PM
i use evolution for 2 ,3 days :P straight jumb back to thunderbird..

Sam
March 30th, 2010, 02:45 PM
Everything I've read points to Evolution having better desktop integration, thus the reason it's included by default... fair enough... but WHAT desktop integration? I can't help but feel like I'm missing something...

Integration in the messages indicator, the appointments that shows in the clock calendar, the synchronization of the contacts with Ubuntu One...

And by the way, Evolution has more features that Thunderbird, the latter being just a mail client (without any extension).

forrestcupp
March 30th, 2010, 02:46 PM
Countdown to Recurring Discussions. 3...2...1

There used to be a thread around here about this that was about a hundred pages long.

DanielCarrera
March 30th, 2010, 03:11 PM
A while back I tried Evolution because it was the "standard" for Ubuntu. I tried it for a few months, but I wasn't very happy with it so I switched to Thunderbird.

Yesterday I moved from Thunderbird to Claws Mail. So far I'm very happy with Claws. It feels lightweight and IMO does several things better than Tbird.

My general feeling is that Tbird is lighter than Evo and Claws is lighter than Tbird. As for features, I don't any of them is missing anything major as an email client, but each one has a few things the others lack:

* Evolution can integrate (sort of) with an Exchange server.

* Claws handles multiple accounts better, supports regexes, and its UI has a few other things that I like.

* Tbird has a different UI which some people will prefer. It also has more plugins than Claws.

samalex
March 30th, 2010, 03:42 PM
I used Evolution years ago and loved it ... reminded me of Eudora :) But last year when I moved back to Linux from OSX I tried Evolution on my 9.04 system, and though I liked it, the lack of being able to mark an event as All Day was a roadblock I couldn't get past since most of my calendar events in Google Calendar were setup like this and wouldn't copy over.

So I ran with Thunderbird and the Lightning plugin for Calendar support. I have to say I'm VERY impressed because it syncs to Google Mail and Calendar seamlessly. There is a Gnome integration plug-in, but i found it to be rather buggy so I don't use it.

I did like the Gnome integration of Evolution, and when I move to 10.04 after it's released I may give Evolution another shake since I liked that. I also read they fixed the All Day event problems, which was my biggest hang-up. But honestly I really like Thunderbird and use it for email, Usenet, calendar, etc.

Take care --

Sam

ubunterooster
March 30th, 2010, 03:54 PM
One killer feature of thunderbird is the ability to keep all e-mails and settings when going from MS's to Canonical's OS. As Ubuntu is dealing with a lot of users coming from XP and Vista, it really should use a cross-platform email program, right?

LowSky
March 30th, 2010, 04:20 PM
One killer feature of thunderbird is the ability to keep all e-mails and settings when going from MS's to Canonical's OS. As Ubuntu is dealing with a lot of users coming from XP and Vista, it really should use a cross-platform email program, right?

I like to set up my email client so that messages stay on the server for so many days, usually 120. This way a user can accidentally delete an email, and still have a way to get it back if necessary, or use a different client and still have similar results.

psusi
March 30th, 2010, 04:20 PM
I'm in the same boat. Trying to give Evolution a go but so far I'm finding the thread view annoying and the read next mail key is ctrl-] which is much more annoying to type than n. Also it seems that Evolution does not support managing the sieve scripts I have running on my IMAP server to sort my mail.

Then again, I've been getting annoyed at tbird lately because of a few silly bugs that have gone unresolved for YEARS, like clobbering the subject when it is long and split across two header lines.

ubunterooster
March 30th, 2010, 04:27 PM
@lowsky: I set it for 60 days, for the same reason.
[also, thanks for permission to use the LEGO™ avatar]

LowSky
March 30th, 2010, 04:34 PM
@lowsky.... thanks for permission to use the LEGO™ avatar]

LOL, no prob, Its not like I created it or anything.

Psumi
March 30th, 2010, 04:45 PM
Evolution requires gnome stuff; Thunderbird does not.

/thread

clegends
March 31st, 2010, 12:34 PM
Thanks for your feedback folks. Have just given Evolution the boot once again. Thunderbird does everything I need and more, love using Sunbird for a calendar. So far as the desktop integration is concerned for Evolution, I just can't see what the big deal is. Not enough features with it to make it interesting for me. So.... thunderbird it stays. Thanks heaps everyone! Enjoy the rest of this thread that's started...

gradinaruvasile
March 31st, 2010, 12:51 PM
One killer feature of thunderbird is the ability to keep all e-mails and settings when going from MS's to Canonical's OS. As Ubuntu is dealing with a lot of users coming from XP and Vista, it really should use a cross-platform email program, right?

Evolution can import mail from programs that use the mbox format like Thunderbird/Seamonkey - in Sylpheed/Claws mail there is an export to mbox option too AFAIK.

Personally i use Thunderbird now - i used Evolution, but that is buggy and sometimes locks up when using pgp. Thunderbird is nice, has very usable notification popup, tons of extensions. But its a bit of memory hog. Used the generic Linux builds.

I also used Seamonkey Mail - that is an uglier, but lighter weight thunderbird in essence, it runs with the browser, very nice. It has the notification popups just as Thunderbird does, only smaller and simplified. Used the generic Linux builds. I think i liked this one best.

Sylpheed (i think its ClawsMail's father) - its very fast, i used it most times by running it vis ssh in exported X, its that lightweight. But the html previews just suck.

BTW you can put your mail from Evolution in Thunderbird by simply copying the extensionless files from Evolutions mail to your mail folder (make sure you have created a user first). It doesnt seem to work the other way around (although you can import your mbox files one at a time, but that is just slow).

forrestcupp
March 31st, 2010, 01:14 PM
Countdown to Recurring Discussions. 3...2...1

There used to be a thread around here about this that was about a hundred pages long.

Boy, I guess I was wrong.

It's amazing how some threads that aren't even recurring discussions get sent there, while other threads that are blatantly recurring don't. They need to change the name to "Unwanted Discussions" instead of "Recurring Discussions".

TheNessus
March 31st, 2010, 01:26 PM
Thunderbird does everything I need and more, love using Sunbird for a calendar.

What?

You know that you don't need Sunbird if you have Thunderbird, right? Just install the Lightning extension and you got sunbird in your thunderbird... 2 in 1. Get rid of sunbird as a seperate prog.

these things really annoy me.

Psumi
March 31st, 2010, 02:40 PM
What?

You know that you don't need Sunbird if you have Thunderbird, right? Just install the Lightning extension and you got sunbird in your thunderbird... 2 in 1. Get rid of sunbird as a seperate prog.

these things really annoy me.

Lightning on the mozilla add-ons website only--to the average user--works for Thunderbird 3+ though, us Debian-only users can't get that yet.

Dragonbite
March 31st, 2010, 03:06 PM
I keep going back-and-forth between the two.

I use GMail's IMAP connection so my email all stays in one place regardless of which client I use. I also use Google Calendars and Google Contacts. Basically I am trying to make my Gmail out to be an Exchange equivalent (I think they are missing any Notes feature).

Thunderbird does feel a little more comfortable. The best setup I have done with Thunderbird so far is with the folder list panel hidden, the email in the middle and a right panel for calendar and list of coming tasks. This is basically how I have my MS Outlook 2007 looking at work (with the addition of a task list under my next 4-5 appointments)

Plus Thunerbird has a plugin that changes the colors in a plain-text email for each respondant so it is easier to see who wrote what.

I also used Thunderbird to help migrate my wife over from Windows to Linux (in addition to Firefox).

Unfortunately, I don't think the calendar app works with the latest Thunerbird, or was it the Google Contact sync?

Evolution feels heavier and isn't quite as customizable. I haven't been able to get just a list of coming activities on the side while in Email.

I think Evolution needs some lovin' to make it more customizable and to look better.

I still need to look more into the "integration" aspect of Evolution.

clegends
April 1st, 2010, 03:55 AM
Used the lightning plugin for awhile, but eventually switched to sunbird, using it as a seperate app. Much easier on memory, for a start, and prefer the user interface being able to separate them.

cor2y
April 1st, 2010, 05:22 AM
Eveolution has gotten better , for example it now supports natively google mail via Imap or POP as well as hotmail.
What it still lacks that thunderbird has is yahoo support, yahoo basic not the premium but even that is enabled in thunderbird via a plugin.
So they both are about equal for the home user.
Although when you enable Evolution's filters in learning mode remember it will take a while for it to learn what is and isnt spam.

arnab_das
April 1st, 2010, 06:12 AM
i have always been a thunderbird fan and things are so freakin simple in thunderbird. u dont have to worry about SSL or TSL encryption and password types and stuff, its just an enter ur email id, password, incoming and outgoing server. and thats it.

but evolution integrates better with gnome. thunderbird looks like an odd mismanaged tweak for ubuntu.