A bit of History
Long time ago we had Netscape as the browser that everyone loved. It was a packakge of a browser, an email client, an addressbook and a web page editor. Then Microsoft all but killed it by releasing Explorer and Outlook Express for free. Netscape all but died. The source code was given to the community of developers and Mozilla was born. Mozilla was basically the same as Netscape ( in fact current Netscape versions use Mozilla and customize it for Netscape). However, everyone did not want everything, so standalone applications were made from Mozilla - most popular of which are Firefox and Thunderbird.
Here I will discuss Thunderbird - the email application
Dual Boot Nirvana !
If you are trying out Linux, you will most probably on a dual boot system. The major problems I was facing was how to access the emails which I had in Outlook on Windows and Evolution on Linux. With thunderbird I can do it very easily as Thunderbird allows me to specify where to put my mailbox on the hard drive.
The solution is - make a FAT partition on Windows and store your emails there. On the linux side, mount the FAT partition and point the path of the emails in Thunderbird... Vioala !
Change the skins
Bored of the looks of the normal icons ? Thunderbird supports themes - with which you can change the look of the buttons, throbber etc. Check https://addons.mozilla.org/themes/?application=thunderbird
Threading
If you are an Outlook Express user or use Outlook before 2003 version, you will not even know what this means. Basically, all conversations in your folder can be sorted based on conversations - with indentations to show who replied to what. A boon if you are on email groups where people reply to different people’s emails.
Extend your mails
Extensions allows you to add support to thunderbird which are not available by default. e.g. there is an extention to allow you to see which email client the sender has used :-D .
A more usefull extention is the calendar.
For a list of extentions check : https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/?application=thunderbird
Text mode
I like getting emails in text - and this application really supports it. Other apps show text emails using fonts which cause all the text to be compressed. However, here the ASCII support is really good.
Palm Support
Thunderbird also comes with Palm support so you can sync your addressbook and calendar data on your palm.
RSS
The RSS feeds are supported in TB. I have feeds for Slashdot, CNN, CNET as part of TB. This allows me to actively recieve news without having to go to the websites !!! Makes my life quite a lot easier.
Not so good stuff
IF you don’t use the Calendaring system of MS Exchange, this should be your email client.
IF you are using Outlook Express - upgrade now. You will not regret it.