Outlook 2007 vs Thunderbird

Snowcone

With the announcement that 2 of the key members of the Thunderbird project are leaving/gone I am wondering what the future of Thunderbird holds. I am also growing tired of running 2 mail clients, but I am clinging on to something in Thunderbird that I can't live without, Quicktext.

That said, if you were already using Outlook 2007 for work email and had the option of that or Thunderbird for your personal email, what would you go with or are already using? I'm on the fence here and I need a little push to make me move from Thunderbird or stay.

syndalis

Outlook 2007 is pretty great... though a good chunk of it's extended functionality comes from having an exchange server you are pulling from. Even without it is a good client, but Exchange / Outlook integration is the tits.

Given the choice between the two, I would go for Outlook... the new Ribbon interface is just a joy to use, and worlds ahead of the bullshit they have been calling an interface for the past 10 years.

Snowcone

Yeah, I've got Exchange running here and if I could find a way to run Exchange at home I would. OWA rocks.

TyrantCow

I use Thunderbird for IMAP. Outlook is shotty at best at keeping my connections. And, navigating is slow and clunky.

Thunderbird's interface is not anything amazing; but, at least it loads quickly.

gilrain

Another vote for Outlook 2007, here. For personal email, I use gmail and it's great -- but if you need a full client, Outlook 2007 is fantastic.

Snowcone

Any idea if there is some replacement for QuickText I can use with Outlook 2k7?

TyrantCow

syndalis wrote: »

Outlook 2007 is pretty great... though a good chunk of it's extended functionality comes from having an exchange server you are pulling from. Even without it is a good client, but Exchange / Outlook integration is the tits.

Given the choice between the two, I would go for Outlook... the new Ribbon interface is just a joy to use, and worlds ahead of the bullshit they have been calling an interface for the past 10 years.

I have Outlook 2007, and it looks exactly like 2003, no ribbon. What am I doing wrong?

Snowcone

Outlook 2k7 doesn't use Ribbon, but the rest of the suite does.

ben0207

I'd say Outlook, but I haven't used TB for a while

Panickd

The main reason I use Outlook 2007 is because it came with the rest of Office and I have a habit of doing the "complete" install. In all honesty I probably don't use it to its full effect but I only use it to pull mail off my GMail account and not with Exchange. I really, really like the calendar and planner in Outlook though but I doubt any of that has changed much from 2000 to 2007. And as for Thunderbird, I liked it but could never get used to the way it did some things.

NailbunnyPD

Snowcone wrote: »

Yeah, I've got Exchange running here and if I could find a way to run Exchange at home I would. OWA rocks.

Well, you can set up HTTPS over RPC to access your work email through Outlook over the Internet, and have your personal email redirect to your account on the Exchange server.

At home I run Thunderbird, at work I run Outlook 2007. Thunderbird is more comparable to Outlook Express, and is perfectly adequate for my home use. At the office, I could not live without the Exchange/Outlook combo.

DigDug2000

Snowcone wrote: »

With the announcement that 2 of the key members of the Thunderbird project are leaving/gone I am wondering what the future of Thunderbird holds. I am also growing tired of running 2 mail clients, but I am clinging on to something in Thunderbird that I can't live without, Quicktext.

That said, if you were already using Outlook 2007 for work email and had the option of that or Thunderbird for your personal email, what would you go with or are already using? I'm on the fence here and I need a little push to make me move from Thunderbird or stay.

Those devs aren't gone. They just got different jobs, and are doing TB on the side now. Did you read this blog entry by david ascher.

I don’t want to sound flippant, but I suspect the biggest difference this month compared to, say, June, is that there’s more talking with people outside of Mozilla about Thunderbird and the exciting possibilities that lay ahead. Many people come to me (the new guy, designated point man, bullseye, lightning rod, etc.) with ideas, plans, resumes, etc. That’s basically “what’s going on”.

I really don't think it will die. In fact, I expect to see TB become a whole shit load better in the next year, as its growth has been... anemic at best for the past 5.

I do TB+Lightning for most of my stuff here at work, but I'm lucky that no one here really seems to care about using weird collaboration technologies.

syndalis

Snowcone wrote: »

Outlook 2k7 doesn't use Ribbon, but the rest of the suite does.

Sure it does... and as a developer, some of it's potential uses are GREAT.

Snowcone

DigDug2000 wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

With the announcement that 2 of the key members of the Thunderbird project are leaving/gone I am wondering what the future of Thunderbird holds. I am also growing tired of running 2 mail clients, but I am clinging on to something in Thunderbird that I can't live without, Quicktext.

That said, if you were already using Outlook 2007 for work email and had the option of that or Thunderbird for your personal email, what would you go with or are already using? I'm on the fence here and I need a little push to make me move from Thunderbird or stay.

Those devs aren't gone. They just got different jobs, and are doing TB on the side now. Did you read this blog entry by david ascher.

I don’t want to sound flippant, but I suspect the biggest difference this month compared to, say, June, is that there’s more talking with people outside of Mozilla about Thunderbird and the exciting possibilities that lay ahead. Many people come to me (the new guy, designated point man, bullseye, lightning rod, etc.) with ideas, plans, resumes, etc. That’s basically “what’s going on”.

I really don't think it will die. In fact, I expect to see TB become a whole shit load better in the next year, as its growth has been... anemic at best for the past 5.

I do TB+Lightning for most of my stuff here at work, but I'm lucky that no one here really seems to care about using weird collaboration technologies.

Thanks. I hadn't heard that. Last I heard was that they were leaving Mozilla and "ohnoes TB is teh doomed" style comments were flying around. I still may drop it in favor of Outlook at this point though.

Snowcone

syndalis wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

Outlook 2k7 doesn't use Ribbon, but the rest of the suite does.

Sure it does... and as a developer, some of it's potential uses are GREAT.

Let me quantify my previous statement by saying that it may be running Ribbon, but it's displayed as the traditional File, Edit, Etc menu as opposed to the more visual versions in say Word and Excel.

syndalis

Snowcone wrote: »

syndalis wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

Outlook 2k7 doesn't use Ribbon, but the rest of the suite does.

Sure it does... and as a developer, some of it's potential uses are GREAT.

Let me quantify my previous statement by saying that it may be running Ribbon, but it's displayed as the traditional File, Edit, Etc menu as opposed to the more visual versions in say Word and Excel.

In the core app.

but whenever you compose a message, edit a contact, or schedule an appointment, you get ribbony goodness

sonictk

I only have an IMAP and POP3 account, so Thunderbird works fine for me. Plus switching at this point would be stupid since the junk filter already has all the address collected over the times.

Snowcone

syndalis wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

syndalis wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

Outlook 2k7 doesn't use Ribbon, but the rest of the suite does.

Sure it does... and as a developer, some of it's potential uses are GREAT.

Let me quantify my previous statement by saying that it may be running Ribbon, but it's displayed as the traditional File, Edit, Etc menu as opposed to the more visual versions in say Word and Excel.

In the core app.

but whenever you compose a message, edit a contact, or schedule an appointment, you get ribbony goodness

Also true. That's due in part to using Word as the editor. Have you done any custom Ribbon development for Outlook 2k7 yet?

syndalis

Snowcone wrote: »

syndalis wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

syndalis wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

Outlook 2k7 doesn't use Ribbon, but the rest of the suite does.

Sure it does... and as a developer, some of it's potential uses are GREAT.

Let me quantify my previous statement by saying that it may be running Ribbon, but it's displayed as the traditional File, Edit, Etc menu as opposed to the more visual versions in say Word and Excel.

In the core app.

but whenever you compose a message, edit a contact, or schedule an appointment, you get ribbony goodness

Also true. That's due in part to using Word as the editor. Have you done any custom Ribbon development for Outlook 2k7 yet?

Some stuff, yeah.

In the EMR I am developing, I use an outlook based email2fax gateway (GFI Faxmaker) to handle outbound physician notes / prescriptions / etc. (damn medical community not willing to get off the bloody fax system). I use Ribbon XML to give easy access to e-sign scrips and select which physicians you want to send the note to, populated from a SQL view.

Dr_Keenbean

I actually use both at work. On our macs we all run Thunderbird through IMAP.

And on our Windows PCs (or Windows virtual machines) we run Outlook through Exchange. 2007 for the IT guys, 2003 for everyone else.

I have to say I prefer Outlook. But then I also prefer OS X over Windows so...

Snowcone

Dr_Keenbean wrote: »

2007 for the IT guys, 2003 for everyone else.

That's how it is here. I don't want to retrain my users on how to use Ribbon. They can just keep using 2003 until the end of time as far as I am concernd.

TyrantCow

Snowcone wrote: »

Dr_Keenbean wrote: »

2007 for the IT guys, 2003 for everyone else.

That's how it is here. I don't want to retrain my users on how to use Ribbon. They can just keep using 2003 until the end of time as far as I am concernd.

They (M$) actually made it really easy.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102221621033.aspx

Daemonion

I love outlook 2007. Since my pocket PC is Windows Mobile 6, the integration and mobility is just awesome.

syndalis

TyrantCow wrote: »

M$

:facepalm:

TyrantCow

This isn't /. ?

Snowcone

TyrantCow wrote: »

Snowcone wrote: »

Dr_Keenbean wrote: »

2007 for the IT guys, 2003 for everyone else.

That's how it is here. I don't want to retrain my users on how to use Ribbon. They can just keep using 2003 until the end of time as far as I am concernd.

They (M$) actually made it really easy.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102221621033.aspx

Nifty. I'm still not upgrading them.

NailbunnyPD

If you are not upgrading your users to 2007, you should at least give them the Compatibility Pack.

;-)