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Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

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Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#101

Post by latortuga »

njhaveri wrote: post #19
mronge wrote: post #9

I've been using the beta for a while and I'm happy to see it land here on HN. The two things I love most about Mimestream are: 1. It's wicked fast (seriously) 2. It has Gmail style shortcuts The only thing I wish it had was a generic IMAP support for some of my other accounts. Either way I've been liking it!

Thanks! IMAP account support is something I would really like to add (and Mimestream already uses IMAP for some specific operations where it is a better fit), but from past experience I know that it is complicated ;) I'm also really keen on adding support for JMAP and Office 365 I the future.

Is there a list of shortcuts somewhere? All I see is the choice for Default, Apple Mail, or Gmail. And only about half of the Gmail shortcuts I tried seem to work.

Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#103

Post by dtarik »

I've been looking for an initiative like this for so many years! Not even a month ago, I spent an afternoon looking all over the internet for somebody trying to build a native mail client for MacOs. Since DéjàVu from the lead dev of Sparrow, nobody it seems nobody has tried to do this. I haven't yet tested Mimestream but I already praise you for trying to do it! I will definitely give it a try and pay for it!

Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#104

Post by rShergold »

njhaveri wrote: post #2

Hi HN! In the past, I spent over 7 years working on Apple Mail, and today I am really excited to share a new email client I'm building: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail. Mimestream is written in Swift, and uses AppKit+SwiftUI for a clean, stock appearance. It's designed to be fast, lightweight, and use a minimal amount of disk space. Mimestream's advantages over using the Gmail web interface includes…

This is really interesting work. Have you paid the $15,000 for a security audit Google requires now for accessing the Gmail API.

https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914?hl=en

If so how was your experience going though the audit process?

Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#106

Post by filoleg »

antaviana wrote: post #74
njhaveri wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! So, I don't know exactly what the pricing model will be yet, but I definitely hear your feedback on this topic, and I'm looking at pretty much every option :) My intention is to build a sustainable long-term business, and deliver a continuous/regular stream of updates (e.g. see the Release Notes at https://mimestream.com/releases ), so the pricing model will need to support that goal.

IMHO, if you are looking for long-term business, you need to go the subscription-only route. Probably $19/year. Don't offer permanent licenses, it will add complexity to purchase and support. You do not want a users with a product of yours with a vulnerability they are not entitled to update. A subscription-only model will allow you to focus on only the last build which everyone will be entitled to download, greatly…

I think they can do a pricing model similar to what Sketch uses, but given it is an email client, I am not entirely sure of that myself (though still worth exploring).

For those unfamiliar, with Sketch, you basically have a yearly subscription and you continue receiving regular updates while you are subbed. Once your subscription expires, you get to keep the version you paid for at the beginning of your subscription period, but you stop receiving future updates (aside from security ones and such, ofc).

With Sketch it makes sense, because each year they add a cumulative of lots of new features and such, so people are motivated to renew the sub every year to get those features. With an email client, however, there isn't much in terms of "new features coming every year with updates" that people would be excited to pay the sub for on regular.

However, I still think it is worth exploring and considering as a viable possible option. With that model of "yearly sub, but you get to keep the old version once the sub expires", you allow people (who don't wanna deal with subs and just wanna use the barebones product to pay for once and forget) to experience your product and give you money. And powerusers and those who just want to support the project would be happy to pay the annual sub on regular and receive new features as they come. With that in mind, I would think a yearly $50-60 sub is pretty reasonable, but I am not an expert on pricing things like that, so take it with a grain of salt.

Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#108

Post by dugmartin »

Interesting to see the Gmail API being used for a general purpose email client when Google has a very visible note on the overview page that says:

> Note: The Gmail API should not be used to replace IMAP for full-fledged email client access. Instead, see IMAP and SMTP.

I'd be a little worried they will disable API access for the client due to this.

https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/guides

Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#109

Post by njhaveri »

colinhb wrote: post #65
njhaveri wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! IMAP account support is something I would really like to add (and Mimestream already uses IMAP for some specific operations where it is a better fit), but from past experience I know that it is complicated ;) I'm also really keen on adding support for JMAP and Office 365 I the future.

Excited that you're considering JMAP! Hopefully it solves some of the pain-points of implementing IMAP and makes it easier to deliver a great UX. If e.g. Mimestream can deliver as good a UX with a Fastmail account (or Cyrus IMAP or Dovecot installation) as it does with a Gmail account, I think it will help the independent email ecosystem. (Though there is a big headwind, so I understand focusing on Gmail now.) Edit:…

I am really excited about adding support for JMAP – I participated in the IETF WG for it, gave some feedback, and think it's a very well-designed protocol that should be really efficient at syncing email. It would probably be one of the most fun features for me to add to the app, but yeah, there's still a lot of work left for the Gmail account experience first.

Re: Show HN: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail

#110

Post by njhaveri »

rShergold wrote: post #104
njhaveri wrote: post #2

Hi HN! In the past, I spent over 7 years working on Apple Mail, and today I am really excited to share a new email client I'm building: Mimestream, a native macOS email client for Gmail. Mimestream is written in Swift, and uses AppKit+SwiftUI for a clean, stock appearance. It's designed to be fast, lightweight, and use a minimal amount of disk space. Mimestream's advantages over using the Gmail web interface includes…

This is really interesting work. Have you paid the $15,000 for a security audit Google requires now for accessing the Gmail API. https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914?hl=en If so how was your experience going though the audit process?

I had to go through a Google security review process, which took surprisingly long to get through (probably a good thing!). However, the $15k+ 3rd party audit is only necessary if you are running servers that have a copy of client data. Mimestream only caches email data on your Mac, so I didn't have to pay this fee.
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