The Thunderbird and Lightning developers are eager for feedback at the moment, but it just seems so often in these feedback requests that the bigger issues aren't being looked at, or if they are, they're not exactly shouting about them. With MailCo formed, there is at last a fiscally backed platform that could take Thunderbird to the next level, so I'm gearing up to send them my two cents worth.
Rather than focus on esoteric localisations, minor installer improvements, etc, it really is the time to bring it all together and focus on the herd of elephants gathered in the room.
Yes, it's those old nagging deficiencies that stop Thunderbird getting out into the business world, namely suitability as an Outlook and Exchange replacement. The way I see it, there are some excellent open source projects that should be pooling their talents with the Mozilla teams, and our little open source e-mail nirvana can become real. Here are my suggestions...
Funambol
Talk to the Funambol SyncML team. Better still, hire the Mozilla SyncML plugin developer and give him some helpers! The combo works great to get data to phones and PDAs with SyncML support. My Nokia works fantastically well with it.
OpenChange
Talk to the OpenChange developers and put some energy into a Thunderbird plugin for their LibMAPI code. This takes care of Exchange integration by allowing something more than just POP3/IMAP access.
Without this barrier, and thus Thunderbird getting used at work, we chop the legs out from under the "Well I use Outlook at work so I'll use it at home" argument, and once office workers start using it they'll realise how nice and easy it is to get on with.
SoGo
Talk to the Inverse team about SoGo. It's groupware with a web frontend that walks and talks like Thunderbird. It, or something like it that one can tack in front of standard IMAP, CalDAV and LDAP servers is the plug to the Outlook Web Access hole!
Looking in at Thunderbird and Sunbird/Lightning
I've been asked many times by Outlook and OE defectors about this first one! The profile manager needs a makeover. Give Thunderbird password protected profiles, an easy (toolbar button & menu) to use within Thunderbird. There needs to be an easy way to switch between them, and make certain folders shareable between profiles or at least copyable, so mail can be easily moved.
Sort out the one way LDAP issue. It has great value in corporate environments. Along with that, make it easy to set up OpenLDAP. A point and click Win32/MacOS port wouldn't go amiss either.
Give the Lightning and Sunbird developers more help! 0.7 is really good. Certain key things are needed to make it better...
- Focus hard on the sharing. Businesses want selective sharing of calendars / events through a centrally accessible system. The CalDAV servers around need to have a Win32/Mac point & click install, and the Linux version needs to just go in via package management. Don't make compilation the only way.
- Get the URL handling working so that Firefox (or any other browser) will hand webcal, etc URLs to TB / Lightning.
Right, that's it for now. Time for a cup of tea!
