How I searched for an email client

... and found where he did not expect

In general, I’m quite a conservative person, I update the software when I’m completely locked up against the wall. In this case, the wall was not quite high, but I decided to enter a new one (whatever it was). Usually I used Outlook Express, which suited me, with the exception of some minor points that you can survive. There was one “... but” that spoiled everything, namely, Outlook's entry into one large complex. That is, if something is wrong somewhere, then everything does not work.

One ordinary morning, Outlook swore at some DLL there and refused to start. A search on the Internet gave some useful tips, but to use them you had to run another utility, which also swore on the DLL, but already different. In short, it all ended with reinstalling the system. Again the question arose about the mail client. Emails are important to me, very much so. The bulk of my documentary archive is stored in emails. Of course, I was already smarter and did not store emails in the user zone, which Windows cleans first of all with some kind of sick frenzy in case of any attempts to “repair” the software. That is, a couple of thousand emails were saved and blatantly demanded to manage it wisely. I needed a normal standalone client.


Having run through the listI somehow naturally settled on ThunderBird . Winking mischievously, the bird herself offered me to eat my Outlook's emails, and slowly, but reliably, like a boa constrictor pulled them into itself.

I liked the flexible work with accounts and identities. I liked it very much, which determines who should be answered from (what was missing in Outlook). I did not like the system of determining in which format (HTML or plain) to respond, which also does not work correctly. The authors were perplexed on the proposal to do it, as in Outlook, because there would be data loss when switching the format (“but the men don’t know!”). When working, only a feint was saved with the shift key.

Then other bloopers climbed. For example, right after launch, ThunderBird began to engage in some kind of prelude with my folders and for half a minute refused to check mail. Once I accidentally started a test with a disconnected network. "I can not find the server." What problems, we’ll do it right now! And the network is already there, and ThunderBird still cannot find the server. And so for half an hour, even restarting did not help.

Once I did not find in my folders the emails that were supposed to be there. “I guess it was buggy during the import”, I sighed and went to open Outlook to rummage through the archive. But on the tenth day, I noticed how “this” happened before my own eyes. A few dozen emails, this blue cow simply licked my tongue out of my folder. When I went out, and when I went in, I’m gone. I am ready to put up with minor flaws, but let such a TundraBred go through the forest.

I got the list againand began to study it thoroughly. An email client is like getting married. This is the first thing you see in the mornings (the toilet can not be considered as it is reflex and tactile), therefore, it is necessary that you have a good name and a dowry. Looking ahead, I’ll say that I spent 14 hours searching for “my” client, being on the verge of despair.

The first thing to do is determine what “my” client means. It is possible that my requirements are not quite typical. Perhaps there are other methods of organizing work with mail. But do not demand from my conservative nature more than what it might give up. So, I have three physical mailboxes on which mail from about ten different identities falls off. Thus, I can’t work with physical mailboxes, I’m either on 10 virtual ones, or all in one heap, which I will analyze. The first option is quite utopian, and the second is exactly what was in Outlook. Secondly, I need the ability to send HTML messages. Moveton on the forehead of one who thinks it is Moveton. Keep thinking the same with a bruise on your forehead, as a sign of misunderstanding that if there are no HTML emails, then there will be Word emails.

That's all! As you can see, I'm not whimsical at all, only two conditions (not counting standalone'osti). And then the story went by the bumps of trial and error: a small and shallow customer review.

Opera Mail is the first where my mind fell. But he didn’t install it as soon as he came across the phrase: “Opera Mail can display text and HTML e-mails and uses the layout engine of Opera to display HTML. Opera Mail allows composing in plain text only. " I did not expect from a native of such a noble family such a beggarly investment. And the question is why? The parser is more complicated than the editor. No, darling principles!

When I began to look at Netscape Messenger , it turned out that I fell for his funeral service. His carcass could still be used, but what's the point?

Another thing Zimbra- the charm of youth. In addition, they offer a free desktop client. The young woman turned out to weigh 60M, but what can’t be done for the sake of fresh. The first installed client. It bothered me a bit that it was proposed to install it not in Programs Files, and not even in the root of the C drive, but in the user repository. Go ahead, take a look. As expected, the application was built on browser technology. I had a suspicion that they, too, had installed their own browser (hence the weight). In general, everything worked smoothly, without glitches. There were pleasant side effects in the form of autocomplete. It was striking that young people, except for weight and movement, are all appropriate, that is, the interface-design is all kind of awkward and bulky. But the engagement did not take place due to the fact that all the work was sharpened by physical mailboxes.

One could say about Pegasus that the old horse does not spoil the furrow. In general, everything is fine, but this old man overtook me in his conservatism. He could send formatted emails, but only as Rich Text, not HTML. Honestly admitting that not all clients understand RTF, he offered plain text as an alternative. Harsh horse.

Eudoraended up in two forms. The old version 7 (with a Pegasus-like interface) surprised with icons. Where did they get this mess of pixels? I understand that someone might think that using the arrows for the mnemonics of the concepts “incoming”, “outgoing” is disgusting, but the inscriptions “IN” and “OUT” with a height of 3 pixels on the background of something mottled do not seem to me a worthy alternative. But these are of course trifles. Frustrated by the fact that there is no control over the message. I don’t even know in what format my email is, and there seems to be no alternative to plain text at all. There is no way to view the message headers.

The eighth beta version is built on the ThunderBird engine. I decided to look, maybe they changed something for the better? Installed Eudora 8joyfully picked up my old "bird" profile, making some amendments at its discretion. All the glitches of TundraBred remained, plus ugly gloomy icons were added to the toolbar. Oh yes, they also replaced the green ball of unread message. Now he is big and also ugly. Hey, who is closer to them, pat on the shoulder and convey that they came up with antialiasing in the last century.

I took a little risk deciding to look at Novell Evolution. Was wrong. It turned out that he risked a lot. Although the authors of the port under Windows claim stable operation under XP, all that I found stable does not work. After 15 minutes of doing something, the application did not start, I reset it. Immediately began uninstalling. Uninstaller slowly, slowly, as if from the last forces, drove a green strip. After 10 minutes, she still reached the right edge and squeezed out a message about the need to close the following applications. The following was a list of all my open windows that had nothing to do with Evolution. I pressed the Ignore button with my middle finger. He turned out to be touchy, threw the strip back to the left and threatened that he would be uninstalled for another 30 minutes. Do not believe it, he kept his threat! Exactly half an hour! In addition, he left in his memory a bunch of processes that solidly slow down the system.

On SeaMonkey I looked and looked, but did not put out the fact that it is not standalone'oe application.

On this, all the “noble” surnames ended, but I did not find the narrowed one. I had to turn my eyes to commoners. The first was Japanese Sylpheed , who spoke good English. In this very English, the author explained that after consulting with his associates, they came to the conclusion that HTML emails were not needed. I did not convene the meeting and solely decided that I did not need Sylpheed.

Further, as the most interesting featured Mulberry. He made a very good impression on me. I was already considering whether to appoint him as my beloved wife, but then a very unpleasant fact was revealed. With all the flexibility of working with mailboxes, can only one server be set for sending? So the author thought that one was enough for all the boxes. But we all know that this is not so. Modern SMTP servers very carefully check what and from whom they send.

At first I didn’t want to admit, but I’ll tell you how to be. Only you to anyone ... I installed IncrediMail. And you know, I found a solid clone of Outlook Express. There is everything I need. I intensively searched for a reason to refuse this client and did not find it. I didn’t like one thing - the way to switch “From:”. Just uncomfortable, but I decided to use this as an excuse to look for something else, nevertheless inwardly resigning myself to the fact that I will use (forgive me Lord) IncrediMail.

After going around the sites, I saw that the matchmakers were offering another Japanese woman named Becky . True, you have to pay $ 40 for her. Since it turned out that it was a little tight with worthy brides, I decided to go to the bridegroom. It turned out to be a very nice nice little thing. But without HTML. Sorry Becky-san ...

With the bride, I already went out in completely frustrated feelings. Where is this world heading? I can’t find a normal email client. Life failed ... The clock is already past midnight, and I once again scrolling aimlessly through the lists of programs that I have never heard of and do not want to listen to. But choo! What it is? Why do I already find myself in the list of Windows Live Mail clients that I missed as if I got there by mistake. It must be some kind of webmail project. I open the description and do not believe my eyes: Microsoft has released the next version of Outlook Express under the name Window Mail as a standalone (!!!) application. My heart was racing fast. This cannot be ... The Lord still favors me! I am saved! Give me a glass of water!

Although, however, it is no longer necessary. My fervor is chilled by the following line, which says that Window Mail is released only under Vista. A! I said the world is crap ... And what about Windows Live Mail? Windows Live Mail is the next generation, that is, the granddaughter of Outlook, and it works on both Vista and XP. Just do not mock the poor man. Che true on XP? True true! Please upload ...

First of all, the installer swore that there was no necessary update in Windows. If he knew what updates I just didn’t have ... Everything fell into place. But to clear my conscience, I clicked on the link. Microsoft uploaded something, quarreled with something (I know there is a reason). Without any hope, the installer started up again. And lo and behold, he went! Not only did he install the application, this application started and works like a watch.

The first thing that catches your eye is the whist interface. The second - that the granddaughter from the apple tree fell a little further away and somewhere there was an incest between Outlook Express and Outlook. Third - Inboxes are divided and tied to each box. That is exactly what I DO NOT need.

Well, all the time is already later. It's time to bed, face down in the pillow and begin to sob from hopelessness. What kind of “Quick View” is there? Quick View is a type of virtual summing box, which (if configured) will show everything together. And this is exactly what I need. The second day of the flight. The flight is normal!

PS Indeed, somewhere in the crotch between yawing in free software and willingness to pay, The Bat! fell out of my sight. Not specifically, honestly. To complement the picture, at least for myself, I installed and tried it. Very nice and clean design, it should be noted. It is focused on physical boxes, but it seems that there are flexible options, both for combining them and for splitting them. Most likely I would stop at it, if he had caught me before Window Mail. His money is worth it.