Zel-kun’s Words

Back at my first IT job, at ADC, one of my duties was to build new machines.  Unlike the polished imaging process of larger companies with ghost images and the like, I had to build each individual system from scratch.

I had to use an OS-disc, then load all the system drivers, update windows with the latest patched, join the computer to the domain, install the applications, and do the configurations.  It was long work, but there is a feeling of satisfaction once it was done.  There’s less of that now, with the imagine process really only demanding a few minutes of my time while the rest is done automatically.

One of the applications I had to configure was Microsoft Outlook.  I was amazed by the program, it was able to go to your different email accounts, pull the emails, remember contacts, and even set up a calender.  It was all you needed to organize yourself.

Since then, I installed Outlook at home and have been using it ever since.  But, it had it’s downsides.  It took forever to sync the emails, and while it was connecting to the email server, you couldn’t do much else.  There’s not a whole lot of customization to it, and only email servers that support Outlook can be utilized by Outlook.  This means that services like Yahoo can’t be imported, because Yahoo doesn’t offer that service unless you pay them.

The other day, a co-worker told me about Mozilla Thunderbird, from the same people that make Firefox, which is my web browser of choice.  This co-worker was shocked that I actually used Outlook at home, and urged me to at least try Thunderbird.

So, that night, I went home and downloaded it.

For those who don’t know, Mozilla produces open-source software.  This means it’s free to the public to use and develop.  And despite the notion that ‘anything free isn’t worth having’, the browser it develops is remarkably secure and easy to use.  And with hundreds of extensions and themes, highly customizable.

Downloading and installing Thunderbird took about four seconds, but setting it up took a couple of days.  Thunderbird didn’t support HTTP email, so I wouldn’t be able to import my hotmail account.  Fortunately, being the open-source program it is, someone went ahead and made a webmail extension for it, which, along with supporting HTTP, will enable the use of Yahoo accounts.

The new version of the webmail extension didn’t work, so I spent all last night finding the previous version.  But once I DID find it and install it, configuring it was pretty easy.  So once I had all my email accounts loaded into Thunderbird, it flew like… well, a thunderbird I guess.

So, improved functionality (if a little difficult to set up), faster usage, and a price tag that reads “free.”  It wins my vote.

So, if you want to get a non-suck browser and a non-suck email client, maybe you should visit Mozilla’s site.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Zel-kun out.