IT Help!

[don]

Advice needed.

I'm looking to get out of Microsoft and AT&T email.

What I'd like is a return to Mozilla.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, pals
Don

[slippery]

Re: IT Help!

You weren't very specific about your current set up. Are you talking about server based mail for a company or just your personal email?

If personal, I highly recommend going to Gmail. It is fast, works in most every web browser on every platform, has great threading and anti-spam, etc.

You can read your mail on any computer from anywhere. Great integration with smart phones.

If you are talking about enterprise mail systems for a company, I would need to know more about your situation to make a good recommendation.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: IT Help!

I'm looking to get out of Microsoft and AT&T email.

What I'd like is a return to Mozilla.

Any suggestions?

Then why not return to Mozilla, if that is your preference? See further Mozilla Thunderbird.

To be more careful, you don't say much of why you want out of Microsoft and AT&T email, or why you prefer Mozilla, or what advice you seek from us. So what advice I offer may not serve your needs. Hence I'll just take a shot in the dark and state what I recommend.

I recommend Fastmail.fm for an online webmail server, and the above Thunderbird for a PC email client, on both Windows and Linux. For more complex email needs, when running your own email server, I recommend postfix, procmail, spamprobe, sylpheed, and fetchmail, all running on SuSE or Ubuntu Linux. For simple email needs, such as some of my relatives have, I usually recommend gmail.

[runlikehe11]

Re: IT Help!

Ubuntu is Linux based and the default browser is firefox.

http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu
http://ubuntuscreencasts.blip.tv/

[don]

Re: IT Help!

This is for my personal email. Will look into Gmail. Would you recommend switching to Apple as well?

[don]

Re: IT Help!

Then why not return to Mozilla, if that is your preference? See further Mozilla Thunderbird.

To be more careful, you don't say much of why you want out of Microsoft and AT&T email, or why you prefer Mozilla, or what advice you seek from us. So what advice I offer may not serve your needs. Hence I'll just take a shot in the dark and state what I recommend.

I recommend Fastmail.fm for an online webmail server, and the above Thunderbird for a PC email client, on both Windows and Linux. For more complex email needs, when running your own email server, I recommend postfix, procmail, spamprobe, sylpheed, and fetchmail, all running on SuSE or Ubuntu Linux. For simple email needs, such as some of my relatives have, I usually recommend gmail.

I found out the hard way AT&T doesn't like Mozilla, Cow. Had reoccurring problems and after many tech-support calls got them to fess up to that. I was told for a fee they could make Mozilla work "for awhile". Yours is the second Gmail recommendation for the simple stuff. Sounds good.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: IT Help!

I found out the hard way AT&T doesn't like Mozilla, Cow.

Do you mean AT&T as your employer, as your ISP or as your iPhone or other smart phone provider?

[ggirod]

Re: IT Help!

With the availability of Gmail I can't heartily recommend a mail client like Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora, or other POP client because of the difficulty of managing mail through system migrations, off-site usage, and public (WiFi Hotspot) availability. People who resist that change will face continuing problems with email providers and will eventually leave POP or MAPI mail for Google. If you are a fairly large business and you want to control your own mail then set up your own server and deal with supporting it. POP and MAPI still work just fine but supporting them is not trivial and is too costly for most ISPs to take seriously. Just my .02 worth.

Caveats include that you will want to think differently about how you organize email. Instead of folders, Google lets you assign attribute keywords which, when searched are somewhat more useful than folders but take a bit of getting used to. I think the ability to "Google" your email makes up for the differences and the first time you want to find an old email with few details at hand, Google will show its stuff.

[don]

Re: IT Help!

My ISP. I had chronic Mozilla email problems and worked assiduously with AT&T's tech department to fix it. Finally one of their 2 tier techs told me they could temporarily fix it for a third party fee. That's when I got it. I was straying off the AT&T reservation.

[aaron]

Re: IT Help!

gmail

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: IT Help!

My ISP. I had chronic Mozilla email problems

WTF? What email client you use should make no difference to your ISP.

Ah - the problem is not your ISP; it's your ISP's email server. I did a search for "at&t isp thunderbird" and found various problems connecting Thunderbird to the AT&T's email server.

This reminds me ... I almost never use my ISP's email service. For one thing, this allows me to change ISP's (when I move or when I change my mind or my needs change) without changing my email address. For another thing ISP email service is often of poor quality, as you are seeing here.

This also reminds me ... there's another option. You can continue to use your favored Mozilla Thunderbird client, but switch your email server from AT&T to gmail. Gmail now supports IMAP, which is a better client-server email protocol than POP3 when used over broadband.

So, if I were in your shoes now don, I'd do a couple of things:

1. Switch to a gmail account, convert anyone who sends you personal email to your gmail address, and get comfortable using the gmail web interface.
2. Then most likely I'd fire up my trusty old Thunderbird client, and reconfigure it as an IMAP client of my new gmail account.

When on my primary PC, I'd usually use Thunderbird. When on the road or on some other PC, I'd use the gmail web interface.

IMAP (unlike POP3) allows one to easily maintain copies of messages on both the web server (gmail) and the client (your PC running Thunderbird.) It does all the bookkeeping and keeps the folders in sync, without the user fussing.

See further the following web page for more details on this: Turn Thunderbird into the Ultimate Gmail IMAP Client.