16
votes
Any Thunderbird aficionados here?
I've been using Tbird since forever, the past 6-7 years on Linux (Debian/Ubuntu downstreams). A couple years ago, I think during the 68-71 release cycle, there were are lot of panicky blogs about "don't upgrade; the new Tbird will irrevocably screw up your Contacts/Calendar/Other Plug-ins", I may even have tried it and experienced issues myself (I don't recall) ... and as a result, I've held my copy at the 60.something release since then.
Now the 91 update has been out and stable for awhile, and a major overhaul upgrade to 102 is in the offing ... and I'm looking for feedback ... is it safe to upgrade? Might I still hit breaking issues? Or was it always safe?
I've been using Thunderbird as my Outlook replacement at work (hate the excessive whitespace!).
Every now and then it hangs up and needs restarted, but then I also recieve an unfathomable amount of email, over 800 daily.
I've found myself dependant on several addons, because base functionality doesn't meet all my needs, but that's also why I love Thunderbird. My favorite is one that provides a nice flowchart of email replies to help keep track of who is replying to what thread and delays in between.
All of my email is being stored on the server though, so YMMV if you don't do that.
I can't speak to the safety of upgrading to the newest version, since I haven't used Thunderbird for a while now, but I used it for over a decade and I loved it. It was always one of the first things I installed on a new computer, along with Firefox.
Thunderbird has been a bit behind the times when it comes to design for a long time now. Over a decade? That's not always a bad thing. But in general, I think the new design looks great.
In looking at their blog, I actually really like some of the new things they have planned with the redesign. The idea of link previews is really cool, especially now that we are all used to seeing that kind of thing on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I have to use Outlook for work email (they won't even let us sign in through a third party app on our phones, we have to use the official Outlook app) and...fine? I just use webmail for my personal email since I moved to Fastmail. Their web app was good enough that when I switched computers, I never installed Thunderbird.
I've been using Thunderbird for years. Currently on version 91.x. I've always upgraded regularly. Never had an issue. This is on Linux; can't speak to what the experience is like on Windows or Mac. If you're on Linux, I'd say it's safe to upgrade.