[X4U] E-Mail programs (Was: Users' judgments of the glossy screen?)

[Randy B. Singer]

On Feb 27, 2008, at 10:47 AM, Zane H. Healy wrote:

> I was aware of Penelope, and have been keeping an eye on it.  I've  
> not heard of Odysseus, and it sounds like it might have more  
> promise. I'm not to keen on the ideal of putting a wrapper around  
> Thunderbird to make it look like Eudora (which is what I get the  
> impression Penelope largely is).  Actually I'm quite honestly not  
> sure exactly what Penelope is, even after having read up on it a  
> fair amount.

My take is that it is exactly as you describe it...an attempt to  
Eudora-fy Thunderbird.

And for all of the claims by the Odysseus folks that it is a more  
worthy successor to Eudora, a look at the most recent beta version  
strikes me as being little different than Penelope.

http://www.infinitydatasystems.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=86

In fact, they both strike me as being very much like Apple's Mail.

If I were interested in an alternative to Mail, that was similar to  
Mail but not from Apple, I think that I would be most interested in  
GyazMail.  It is from a tiny developer who is very responsive and the  
product is fantastic.  Prior to OS X 10.4, I think that GyazMail was  
actually better than Mail in most ways.  But at this point the two  
are so similar that it is hard to ignore the allure of going with an  
application that is free (or at  least it comes at no additional cost  
over and above OS X's price), it is supported by the Mother Ship, and  
for which a bunch of third-party developers offer add-ons.  (Not to  
mention being able to get peer support on just about any Mac  
discussion list.)

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
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