Solved FossaMail

[Jody Thornton]

I've started using Fossamail, it's a fork of Thunderbird. Uses a lot less memory than Thunderbird and has some of the bloat stripped out. All the TB add-ons still work. Plus it's optimised for 64-bit and has more options for IMAP than WLM.

I've tried a few. eMclient is good but the free version is limited to 2 accounts.

I was posting a question about FossaMail on the Pale Moon site, but no one answered. Here's what I posted:

Hi Folks:

I have been reluctantly considering adopting FossaMail as my default mail client. I stopped using Thunderbird around 2010, after version 3x brought tabbed email reading and indexing. I found Thunderbird from then on in to be slow as snot. I tried some newer builds a couple years later, and was equally unsatisfied. My kind of mail client would be like Thunderbird 2x. I loved that release, with preview set to the bottom. I really enjoyed using that.

So my question is, would using FossaMail give me a similar experience? I suppose I can disable tabbing, but does indexing work all the while during use, or can indexing be defeated as well? If I could make it feel and appear like v2 of Thunderbird, I'd be really happy.

And I assume that an x64 build exists right?

 

[Barman58]

I moved your thread here as your question was unrelated to helping the user with an issue Please do not hijack other members threads

 

[Jody Thornton]

Oh I was asking only because the one chap mentioned FossaMail, that was all (I really didn't think, although it was an aside to the topic, that it constituted hijacking, but OK)

 

[Callender]

RE: Thunderbird being slow. It does require some settings tweaks to get it to work better.

http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers-mail/340705-thunderbird-links-dont-work-3.html#post2854753

I guess the same goes for Fossamail. Note: I don't use Fossamail or Thunderbird currently.

 

[MoxieMomma]

Hi, Jody:

I've been using TB since waaaaaaaaaaaay back when and never experienced issues with slowness or other problems under XP, Vista, 7 or 10. But I've always been on robust hardware. And each computer is different. The same goes for user preferences and likes/dislikes.

I am not familiar with FossaMail, so I cannot answer your question directly.

Having said that, the fact that support is so hard to come by for FossaMail would be a strong negative in my decision to move to that client.

Migrating to a new email client is a major chore.I would want to know that I could get help at any point in the process if I needed it.

At least Thunderbird has a pretty large user base and is stable, readily customizable with many themes and add-ons, and well-supported by active user communities, such as forums.mozillazine.org (unaffiliated with Mozilla) and (perhaps a bit less so) by Mozilla. The migration process from other email clients is quite reliable. Those factors would tip the scales in favor of TB for me.

Just my two cents and worth less,
MM

 

[Jody Thornton]

Nope, that's great MoxieMamma. I'm not really worried about the support system, as I'm competent with mail client setup, and the folks over at Pale Moon are (usually ... lol) pretty good at getting back. I suppose I was just wanting to get a comparison with modern day Thunderbird? Is it faster? Also can it be made to operate and look like the 2x version of Thunderbird.

But I really appreciate the response.

 

[MoxieMomma]

Quick question: Are you running Windows 8, as it says in your specs?

I don't think it would directly matter as far as your email client inquiries are concerned.
However, this is "sevenforums.com".

So the folks at our sister forum, "eightforums.com" *might* be a wee bit more savvy about running both FossaMail and TB on that platform...

Just a thought,
MM

 

[Jody Thornton]

No i understand, but honestly, there are mostly crickets chirping over at Eight Forums (nobody is there for the most part). I'm on all the DM Forums anyway.

 

[MoxieMomma]

You mentioned that you posted at a relevant forum looking for advice on a basic question and got no response. That doesn't sound like robust support.

Alas, I cannot specifically answer the question about how to get TB 45.2.0 to look like TB 2.0.
Needless to say, it's been "a while" since I ran that version.

However, there are probably themes or customizations that *might* recreate -- to some extent -- the look or feel of TB 2.0.
There is probably a limit to the "regression" one can create, given that TB 45.2.0 differs fundamentally under the hood from TB 2.0: performance, stability, security, etc..

If you are running a computer robust enough to run Win7 or Win8, then it ought to run TB (current version) just fine.
But you will not know until you try it.

I suggest giving it a try, with the default theme and minimal extensions/add-ons, and go from there.
If you need help migrating your data from another client, let us know.

Cheers,
MM

 

[Jody Thornton]

Yeah I'm perfectly OK with all of the data migration and themeing, but I do appreciate that. Initially, this thread was in another post, and I was just seeking a response from Brds7t7 who mentioned he used FossaMail and said it was faster and less bloated than Thunderbird. I wasn't really seeking advice on how to set it up or anything (not that I don't appreciate that mind you). I was just seeking that user's opinion on FossaMail before I went and installed. But my post was seen as hijacking the thread, so it ended up here.

As for the Pale Moon forum, they usually are very good. Every one can cause a let down now and then . I use their browser which was originally a fork of Firefox.

 

[Jody Thornton]

I sent the user a PM but I really appreciate eveyone's input. That's terrific.

 

[MoxieMomma]

Hi:

I'm not sure anyone can directly answer your question about a head-to-head comparison for speed or other performance.

Each computer is unique.
If a computer user has the means to benchmark and measure and compare TB vs. FM on his/her computer, the results may or may not be applicable to another user's system.
And the differences are likely to be so small as to be either undetectable or at least minimally significant from an operational standpoint.
As mentioned, both FM and TB would likely perform quite well on a modern computer robust enough to run Windows 8.

As for bloat, I really could not say. There will always be a balance between "requested features" for some users and "bloat" in the eyes of others. I do not personally find TB to be bloated, although I do not use some of the available features. It has always done what I need it to do, no muss and no fuss.

All of this is pretty much hypothetical unless/until you would actually try either FM or TB or both on your system.

I'll bow out, leaving the discussion to others more facile with FM.
If you decide to give TB another try, I'll be happy to try to assist you with that, if needed.

Cheers,
MM