The Beta version of Thunderbird only brings small incremental fixes and improvements. This beat version is primarily a bug fixing release and many of the problems that have been found in early versions of the email client have now been fixed.Īfter Mozilla's recent announcement that Thunderbird is entering its "extended support phase", which basically means it'll only be officially maintained with minor bug fixes and security updates going forward. It is important to note that while the Earlybird alpha can be installed alongside an existing copy of Thunderbird, installing the beta will overwrite any stable version that is already installed.
MOZILLA THUNDERBIRD BETA SOFTWARE
The problem with alpha software is that it can often be unstable, but by opting to work with the beta version of Thunderbird, you get the best of both worlds a sneak peak at what is to come in future versions, but nothing so experimental that it is unreliable. At any one time there are three different versions of Thunderbird available – the stable release, the beta version of the following release (this version of the application), and the alpha preview of the subsequent version called Earlybird.įor day to day use, it is recommended that most people stick with the stable release that is made available in the standard release channels, while those who like to live right on the cutting edge and experience all the latest feature may like to take a look at the Earlybird alpha. Many extensions allow to expand more the feature set or improve usability.Just as Firefox has been moved onto an accelerated release schedule, so Mozilla has increase the speed at which updates are released for its email client, Thunderbird.
You can run Mozilla Thunderbird from a removable medium such as USB stick.S/MIME support lets you encrypt and sign mail (OpenPGP plug-in available).Mail classified as junk can automatically be sanitized.Offers rich, but security and privacy conscious HTML formatting support.Searches can be saved to virtual folders that automatically aggregate relevant mail in Thunderbird.Mail views, free-form message tags and flexible filters let you organize and prioritize good mail easily.A junk mail filter, using Bayesian statistics, can block the spam automatically.Manages multiple POP and IMAP email accounts and reads RSS feeds.Verdict: The Beta version of Thunderbird only brings small incremental fixes and improvements. Also a person-centric perspective on communications. After Mozilla's recent announcement that Thunderbird is entering its 'extended support phase', which basically means it'll only be officially maintained with minor bug fixes and security updates going forward. Thunderbird application combines an open architecture, a powerful extensibility and customization framework. Whether that’s email, instant messaging, social networking messages, or other types of message. It is a powerful yet enjoyable tool to help individuals manage their online interactions. Thunderbird 97, as a messaging system, is the unique tool that users can use to integrate as many of their communications as they want. The integrated RSS feed reader extends these abilities to news. Mozilla Thunderbird 97 also work fine with IMAP accounts and across email accounts. Flexible views, free-form tags and powerful filters, search and virtual folders make it a snap to handle large amounts of mail. Though not perfect, a scam sensor detects tactics commonly used to fool users. Combine these two aspects, and you get a sensible feature that automatically sanitizes (potentially dangerous) HTML code.Īlso it turns off remote images for spam or anything else you classify as bad mail. It is a sophisticated and very well integrated Bayesian spam filter knocks out most junk mail (after some training). Thunderbird Beta - Broadly test the stability of new features and improvements in the next version of Thunderbird. Nightly - Test builds including unpolished features not tested by Mozilla QA.
Each stage of the development process lasts for six weeks. It offers a pretty and streamlined interface to a very powerful email package.įurthermore, it lets you handle mail efficiently and with style, and Thunderbird filters away junk mail too. A: We now have three Thunderbird channels: nightly, beta and release. Mozilla Thunderbird 97 is a fully featured, very functional, secure email client and RSS feed reader.