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I've spent the last two years building a new email client

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Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#122
Of course I have to ask if you've looked at JMAP (http://jmap.io/spec.html).

More because we're getting close to finishing the spec, and feedback from someone who's build a client recently about whether the spec suits their needs would be valuable!

Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#123
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an "all my friends voted for..." argument. Electron applications such as Slack, Discord, and VS Code have ballooned in popularity over the last year or two. Hacker News comments are not representative of the whole.

It is not about popularity, it is about the resources Electron apps use vs native. The apps that you mentioned do not have good native alternatives. I cannot see anyone preferring a native app over Electron app if both offer the same features.

I prefer VS Code over native alternatives. Don't conflate your anecdotal evidence with facts. Many users don't know much RAM a process consumes or what an Electron app is, they just care about what the app can do, how fast it is, etc.

Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#124
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although, in reality, that doesn't make it more secure.

On a desktop app, you can see what kind of request the program makes and which servers it contacts. With a webapp, you'll never know what the app does.

> With a webapp, you'll never know what the app does.

Unless you run uMatrix or uBlock Origin (same code in both as far as this feature is concerned), of course.

Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#125

No offense but unless it’s a 1st party client email clients are something that is very hard to trust. Who controls your client has access to your inbox with most services even the few that have separate IMAP/POP3 passwords like Hushmail can be compromised through it. If your client also integrates with encryption or worse takes charge of it my encryption key is also now at risk. Lastly since email today is pure HTML…

Few webmail "clients" are open source and many native clients like e.g. Outlook are also not open source, yet these are very popular. Unless you use a highly trustworthy email provider, considerations about client programs are kind of moot anyway.

I'd personally be more picky about my mail provider and not use any offerings by Google or Microsoft, for instance, because they are stock market companies with interests that principally conflict with the interests of their users. In contrast to this, trusting individual developers and small companies makes much more sense. You check out their online presence and decide for yourself. I'd only be wary about individual developers who offer closed-source security applications (e.g. encryption) and have no prior history of working and posting in this field. But an email client? To be honest, I haven't even checked the vita of the maker of my preferred client, claws-mail, let alone those of any of the authors of the plugins I'm using.

On modern operating systems you basically have to trust every developer of any application anyway, since many installers require admin rights and even if they don't it wouldn't be hard for a malicious developer to exploit a security hole. Your kitchen timer application can get your email credentials almost as easily as your email client.

Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#127
post #56

No offense but unless it’s a 1st party client email clients are something that is very hard to trust. Who controls your client has access to your inbox with most services even the few that have separate IMAP/POP3 passwords like Hushmail can be compromised through it. If your client also integrates with encryption or worse takes charge of it my encryption key is also now at risk. Lastly since email today is pure HTML…

I've downvoted you for your sheer negativity. This is a person who's worked 2 years on a project, in a neglected space where companies don't go because they can't make money. He deserves praise for taking the time, creating something that's different, and thinking through the idea. Well done!

Security concerns are the one of the primary reasons why so many email clients died out mid to late 2000’s when every red team success story was “found XSS in email client pwned admin”.

No body is detracting anything from anyone but there is no way I’m trusting an application that can take contol of a large portion of my life without assurances.

If your email address gets compromised it’s game over for most people every service you’ve registered with is up for grabs which is also the reason why I don’t recommend anyone to use personal domains for email unless they are willing to pay for it till death do them part.

As time and time again after buying a domain that was used by someone else and setting up a catch all email address I got emails from Twitter, GitHub and the likes.

Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#128

Of course I have to ask if you've looked at JMAP ( http://jmap.io/spec.html ). More because we're getting close to finishing the spec, and feedback from someone who's build a client recently about whether the spec suits their needs would be valuable!

Hi! I really like the initiative of JMAP, however I haven't been able to look into it properly - I can give you a better answer once I've done that, my email is in my profile

Re: I've spent the last two years building a new email client

#130
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not about popularity, it is about the resources Electron apps use vs native. The apps that you mentioned do not have good native alternatives. I cannot see anyone preferring a native app over Electron app if both offer the same features.

Do you mean, you cannot see anyone preferring an Electron app over a native app?

That's almost never the choice though is it? Who offers an Electron app and a native app?

So the choice becomes use an Electron app or something else entirely.

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