Is Thunderbird a better email than Apple’s Mail?

It can’t be supply and demand, but somehow or another the two most used applications on modern Macs, email and web browsers are mostly free. I use OS X’s Mail. Mozilla’s Thunderbird is very good, with many features Mac users need.

Thunderwho?

You don’t hear much about Thunderbird these days. Maybe that’s because Apple’s Safari on Windows competes with Mozilla’s Firefox, which makes money, while Thunderbird does not. From Mozilla:

Thunderbird 2 offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages. As always, you can also set up RSS and newsgroup folders to stay on top of news and your interests.

Despite being treated as the ugly stepchild by Mozilla, Thunderbird is a credible email application loaded with features. Like Firefox, Thunderbird is free.

Fire It Up

If you find Apple’s Mail to be cumbersome and slow, check around for alternatives. Microsoft’s Entourage is good, loaded with features, too, but has a price tag. s

Starting email life with Thunderbird is rather easy, in a Netscapian sort of way. Features and settings. It’s as if Mozilla gets money from God for each new feature or setting (click any image for a close up view).

Set your default identity and server settings. Apple’s little wizardry makes it easier in Mail. The settings in Thunderbird border on the endless.

Feature Sets

Email is not just mail these days. There’s RSS feeds, to-do lists, Smart Folders, spam, search, web pages, HTML layout, attachments, photos, music and more.

All of which needs to be funneled through our email.

Thunderbird 2 offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages. As always, you can also set up RSS and newsgroup folders to stay on top of news and your interests.

Generally speaking, both Thunderbird and Mail have similar features. Everything but the kitchen sink, and I suspect a stainless steel bowl and faucet to appear in the next versions.

Thunderbird gets the edge for preferences and account settings. Apple tacks toward simple, Thunderbird tacks toward more complex, not necessarily improved.

Get Started

I find it interesting how Thunderbird presents users with a structured to-do list when starting. Why? It’s extra steps. When you open email you want to write email or receive email, both of which Apple’s Mail does right away.

In some ways, Thunderbird is simplistic, appealing to the masses. In other ways, it carries a Netscapian Navigatoritis feature creep disease. There’s too much going on around the basic email function.

Security & Add-ons Anyone?

Security comes in many flavors. Phishing prevention and protection. Junk mail. Automatic updates. Thunderbird alerts users to potential email phishing scams where Mail does not. Both block automatic loading of images in email messages.

Thunderbird boasts add-ons, similar to the extensions in Firefox. That appeals to those with specific needs, not to the masses.

Thunderbird users can increase Thunderbird’s functionality and appearance using hundreds of add-ons. A Thunderbird add-on can let you manage contacts, place voice over IP calls, listen to music, and keep track of birthdates all from your inbox. You can even change the appearance of Thunderbird to suit your tastes.

For those who love to dink around and customize their Mac software, Thunderbird rules.

Extras & Email

Both Apple’s Mail and Thunderbird let users connect to Gmail and .Mac from within, bypassing the need to use a web browser. Both allow you to save searches, handle to-do items, though navigation back and forth between messages differs.

What about email? There isn’t much that’s different. Click to receive email, click to write email, click to send email. It’s all about clicks. The differences are in style, not substance.

That doesn’t mean they’re the same or even equals, other than both Mail and Thunderbird to email. Thunderbird feels decidedly more Windows-like, with design homage paid to Netscape Navigator’s ancient email component, some bowing to Eudora’s Fisher-Price icons, and to an extent, visible glimpses of Microsoft’s old Outlook Express.

Mail is more typically Apple; leaner looking, with an onion peel of feature layers, there when you need them, but out of the way if you don’t. Thunderbird is a worthy alternative, but my nod goes to Mail.