Postbox Email Client Gets Add-On Capabilities

@WaylenOrthrus:
Yes, but while most people are talking about pricing, the other important issue is that isn't free that way either. They're using an open source base but creating a closed source project. There is no freedom to modify, add, subtract, or re-release, except in a limited way via extensions.

kuroki

Free Software - "free" like in freedom, not like in free beer !! ;-)

WaylenOrthrus

Just curious, is it possible to change the font of the outgoing email? Cos it seems as though it's like Mail, the mail programme that comes with the Mac whereby outgoing emails are seen by others in Times New Roman, which really made me shun Mail ): Unfortunately.

CorwinBabaloo

@xxdesmus: I just wish the folks at Postbox would let everyone know how much they plan to charge when they go commercial. That would be the honest way to approach it. If the price is reasonable, I'd give it a try. But I'm not going to start using this thing only to learn that they're charging some absurd price for the final release.

seiun

I have been testing Postbox for a few months now and I have to say that it is currently much better than TBird 3. Tbird struggles with my gmail labels and archiving.

gpzbc

I actually had to resort to the FAQ to find out what protocols they handle(!):

Can I use Postbox to get mail from my Exchange server?

Postbox currently supports POP3, IMAP, and SMTP protocols, so if your administrator has those protocols turned on in Exchange, then you can use Postbox to send and receive mail from those servers. Postbox does not currently support native Exchange protocols.

rlee

@defubar: not necessarily true. i've noticed issues with pop accounts. doesn't sync well, doesn't automatically get mail (i had to manually do it) notice how all the folks here saying they love it are only using gmaial imap accounts...

ayatollah

i've used it, even v13, but this isn't ready for prime time.

poor rss capabilities, poor migration (outloook/,mac mail), doesn't work well with address groups (major deal breaker), no global inbox/folders, doesn't sync well with pop accounts (must always manually check mail)

wake me when it's ready.

ayatollah

@Kevin Purdy: Or maybe you need some spark!!! www.advocare.com/09012174 :) Energy and mental focus!!

Needs support for IDLE and IMAP_ENHANCEDIDLE. It apparently has IDLE support, but stops working soon after starting the application. IMAP_ENHANCEDIDLE is nice, as you can do server side filtering, and any updates to your folders are sent to the client, where the client can then display them to you (you have new mail in your Friends folder, etc) Thunderbird has this ([kb.mozillazine.org]) I am not sure if postbox allows you to mess with the config or not. I could not find anything that says it can.

Needs some GPG/PGP love too.

operator207

@jmortj5: It supports POP3 and IMAP. Should be safe assuming anything that works with Thunderbird works with this since it's based off of it.

@jasonbarone:
I've been using Postbox from beta 5 or something like that and I've been receiving intermittent communications and surveys related to various aspects of the program, the last of these surveys being related to pricing.

You're right. It's going to be a commercial product. However, I believe that there will be an ad-supported free version but if you want to get rid of the ads, you'll have to pony up for the pleasure.

I don't think the team has decided which type of license they're going to implement or how pricing will be structured. For the features it offers, it's surely worth some amount of money. I think one price-point they're investigating is somewhere around USD $29.95. I haven't heard anything final yet.

Michael Preiss

@jasonbarone:
That's one thing that scares me too...

Anyway, I would like to try it, but I use labels alot and I 've read that postbox deals with labels as if they were folders, which is something I don't like (since it will copy the same emails to multiple folders if an e-mail has more than one labels).

Besides that, I use folders4Gmail (with BetterGmail2 extension), meaning that I have many labels like "label1/Sublabel/Sub-sublabel". I don't know how postbox will deal with this and with the many filters that I use.

Wow, how did I miss the original post about this? This looks awesome!

saffyre9

Forgot link to GetSat: [gsfn.us]

Postbox is a nice fork of Thunderbird, but it seems to be shaping into a commercial application. I'd love to see Thunderbird turn into a more mainstream app, it has so much potential. I posted on GetSatisfaction about Postbox, and whether or not they would release their code open source, or turn it into a commercial app. Needless to say, no responses from the Postbox team. This app looks like it will be commercial soon. I'll stick with Thunderbird and do what I can to promote open source web apps.

Alas. Until it supports Enigmail or some other OpenPGP extension, it's useless to me.

hypatialh

I've been following the updates of Postbox and would switch in a heartbeat, except that you can't change the fonts - or the font size - in the folders or email list panes.
From where I sit, the text is painfully tiny.

Other than that gripe, it's a fine program.

MRR

@xxdesmus: OK, but at the end of the day people have to eat and bills need to be paid. I'd rather pay a small shareware fee for an application rather than see it diminish over time to the point where it no longer works and is no longer supported.

I hope they keep Postbox free. If they try to charge for it (as the surveys they have been sending out imply) I'll ditch it in a second.

@Yeraze:
Is there a way to sync Postbox up with Google Calendar like how Thunderbird can with its add-ons?

JLobo

@Iliyan Georgiev: Have to agree, I'd use it a lot more if it had two row lists. That being said it's still a phenomenal program.

AlexDancho

Woah, that looks good actually! And it's good it a Thunderbird clone.

Bue hey, Postbox developers:

===================================================
OUTLOOK-STYLE TWO ROW ITEM LISTS, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
===================================================

Can I emphasize this more? The vertical view is USELESS without the two-row item lists. Please, please!!!!

Iliyan Georgiev

Postbox is not an open-source project. They keep considering charging for the final version. And all questions asking about their releasing the code go ignored. ([bit.ly])

Postbox is great but I wonder how many users they will get to switch from Thunderbird if they start charging for the program.

kuroki

Is Lightning compatible? It's not on the list. I really have no reason to switch if it isn't.

@Kevin Purdy: The title in the RSS feed is still screwed up.

I made the switch to PostBox about 2 weeks ago.. I _LOVE_ it.. So far it's the best email client I've found for my mac.

Currently using it with 2 google accounts via IMAP, and it works great.

Does this mean that the Lightning calendar will work? I hope it does.

Ethan Baker

@bimplebean: Forgive the ignorance, I've been looking for something that I can concolidate all of my "online" mail accounts. What services does it work with? I went to the site and didn't find anything on the different mail providers, any info?

FWIW I *live* in Postbox now. Kicks the butt of Thunderbird, Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail. Fast, smart, simple, works flawlessly with GMail IMAP. It's gold.

@Senethior459: The result of an accidental click of the "Publish" button. Fixed, updated, and my apologies--I need stronger coffee. Or less of it.

@Senethior459: Fixed. I was curious, too. Poxbox did NOT sound like a program I wanted on my computer.

@Senethior459: It's a beta, you can expect a few issues, even with the titles of LH posts. 8)

If the program is called Postbox, why is this post titled Poxbox? Am I missing something?