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Thunderbird for Android Now Available

blog.thunderbird.net

51–60 of 94 posts

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#51

Is there a reason why Mozilla haven't used their position and funding to just hoover up all the most successful open source projects to create a more cohesive ecosystem? Surely any addons - like uBlock Origin - which have massive usage should just be baked in to the browser by this point? The likes of Nextcloud and Mattermost would also be great additions in trying to create a true rival to Microsoft and Google's off…

It hasn't exactly helped Eclipse and Apache stay independent, it's basically just some shared project infrastructure at a time when that's less relevant than it used to be.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#52

Is there a reason why Mozilla haven't used their position and funding to just hoover up all the most successful open source projects to create a more cohesive ecosystem? Surely any addons - like uBlock Origin - which have massive usage should just be baked in to the browser by this point? The likes of Nextcloud and Mattermost would also be great additions in trying to create a true rival to Microsoft and Google's off…

Remember Zimbra?

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#53
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that something a single App can do? I have some apps that allow you to change their icon, at least... I guess if you have a CI pipeline it's easy to copy/paste or add a Matrix job, but it seems like an odd choice.

Having two separate apps has additional benefit of acting like insurance against any automated/manual playstore review surprises.

Quite the opposite I think, some braindead bot can count that as spoofing or something.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#54

I've been happy with FairEmail but I think I will give this a try when it hits F-Droid. At this stage it's mainly curiosity, but if they get new features like sync with desktop down the line it will be great.

I've kept TB Beta installed but still go back to FairEmail. But I'm not an email power user, I really only stick to it because the widgets are better. No dark mode for the K9/TB widget is a dealbreaker. And even then FairEmail goes beyond that in allowing transparent widgets.

Will keep checking back in over time.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#55

Is there a reason why Mozilla haven't used their position and funding to just hoover up all the most successful open source projects to create a more cohesive ecosystem? Surely any addons - like uBlock Origin - which have massive usage should just be baked in to the browser by this point? The likes of Nextcloud and Mattermost would also be great additions in trying to create a true rival to Microsoft and Google's off…

> Surely any addons - like uBlock Origin - which have massive usage should just be baked in to the browser by this point?

Merely listing ublock origin as a "recommended extension" led to them being fined in China about two years ago. You can't even install it in mainland China right now.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#56

I've been happy with FairEmail but I think I will give this a try when it hits F-Droid. At this stage it's mainly curiosity, but if they get new features like sync with desktop down the line it will be great.

K-9 Mail is on F-Droid, if you want to give it a try.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#57

Is there a reason why Mozilla haven't used their position and funding to just hoover up all the most successful open source projects to create a more cohesive ecosystem? Surely any addons - like uBlock Origin - which have massive usage should just be baked in to the browser by this point? The likes of Nextcloud and Mattermost would also be great additions in trying to create a true rival to Microsoft and Google's off…

Not sure "acquisition" is the right framing in the open source space but one could certainly think of more partnerships, coordination and/or sharing of various components among the various big players and ecosystems.

FOSS on mobile is a basket case anyway (the dark side is too strong here) but the decades-long linux desktop story is not too hopeful either.

Things like deep interoperability, look-and-feel, UI conventions etc could go a long way towards making all those important applications feel like a coherent thing rather than a random patchwork stitched together with tape.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#58
post #19

I'll try to do it less snarky than others but; This is fine, but frankly we'd love to see resources toward returning Thunderbird to be the more open thing it once was. Losing the robust plugin system was incredibly frustrating; like, all I want is the ability to have custom colored accounts back.

Custom colored accounts exist in FairMail (Open source as well)

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#59
post #35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fastmail is a webapp, and it's very obvious. I use it out of laziness, because I don't use email on my phone that much. I wish they'd make a proper mobile client, but I don't think they care, since it's been like this forever.

OT1H, I don't have a horse in the fight about whether you're right or not, but I was curious because if it is a web app they did a damn stellar job But no, it's a formal android app and I offer two pieces of supporting evidence: the resource browser shows the apk very obviously has a bazillion android resource files https://imgur.com/a/pUbQ8Bp > and it supports native fingerprint auth

It's not a native app. The main interface where you view your mailboxes, compose new emails, edit settings etc is a web view. The interface doesn't even load if you're offline, let alone your emails. Certainly some parts of the UI are native, but that's true of any web app.

Re: Thunderbird for Android Now Available

#60
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why it doesn't work offline, then. The UI refuses to load at all if I don't have an internet connection. Native fingerprint auth can be implemented on top of a webapp; that isn't evidence either way.

Native app doesn’t guarantee “caches data for offline access”.

True. I seem to remember that the UI itself did not load when there's no internet connection, but I just tried it, and it does now. So maybe things have changed, or I misremembered.

Either way, no offline access in an email app... pretty bad.

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