Mozilla Suite

I have just discovered that Mozilla offers a complete suite of tools for download. You can get Firefox (web browser), Thunderbird (mail program), and Sunbird (calendar) to handle all your PIM needs. Or sort of.

You know I like Firefox. And I've tried Thunderbird and like many of its features. I'm sure Sunbird is also a decent program. But now that I see all of these together, I'm reminded of one of the biggest benefits to OS X... Applescripts. Now, I don't do applescripting myself, but I use them all the time because they can make things so much easier. One of my favorite tools is Automator which I've used extensively to run my own scripts. One of the most useful scripts I created will scan pages from say a notebook, combine them into one pdf and email them to classmates. But I do like open source because it's always being developed actively. It also gets input from more people because it's available on many different platforms. This makes the Mozilla suite quite attractive. But...

As a mac user, I'm used to certain things now. I'm used to being able to automate a task with automator. I'm used to having all my passwords in one keychain that can be made accessible by any number of "Mac" programs. One thing I'm not used to is paying for add-ons and upgrades that are offered for free for the open source software (Except for 1Passwd, which seems to be an anomaly in the open source community. Why pay for an add-on to Mozilla to make it work better in Mac?). And yet, one would think that with this new Suite of tools offered by Mozilla that they'd work together better. Alas, I see no evidence that they share a common password database or whatever. Nor do they seem to share access to an address book.

Oh, but I like the looks. I love that Firefox can be made to look like Safari (I know, I'm one of the weird ones to like the brushed metal look). I only wish there were a similar theme for Tbird. Tbird has many options and plug-ins to make it fairly powerful, at least, compared to Apple Mail. By the way, I hated the appearance of Apple Mail so much that I had to download 3rd party hacks more or less to change the icons and get a vertical split (which works better on a widescreen laptop). I wouldn't be able to stand Mail if it weren't for these additions.

As an added bonus for those who like this, Lightening is a plug-in for TBird that puts Sunbird right in your email client. Now we're starting to feel like Outlook or Entourage. But for those of use who hate using multiple applications for all their PIM data, then this seems like an excellent way to go. And it is so much better looking that either Outlook or (and especially) Entourage which is so un-Maclike that no self-respecting Mac user, even a windows convert, would consider using it. Those are hasty words though. I have heard that Entourage is quite powerful, I just can't stand the interface, UGLY!

Interestingly, I looked at Sunbird and it recognized my iCal calendars. It didn't get the names correct on import, nor the colors, but the other data was the same. Even more interesting is that unlike Tbird, Sunbird does not allow you to change the view which I would have like to match that of iCal more. However, the calendars look similar and are just as easy to manipulate. One thing I noticed is that it is much slower than iCal. And I miss the feature of command-clicking on the calendars to select or deselect all. In Sunbird, you have to do it manually and it takes a second or longer to actually turn the calendar off. Lightning is the sunbird extension to Tbird. Now you can have your calendar in your mail client. I like it, and it looks better than the standalone Sunbird. With this, all you need now is stickies and you'll have a complete PIM solution for the cost of... nothing.

But I'm not yet ready to jump on the bandwagon. I'm still highly attached to my Apple software, even if it isn't as powerful by default. Plus, I miss smart folders. There are no smart folders in Tbird. This means that I have to manage everything by hand. Plus, it didn't import my address book, rules, or messages from my computer. This lack of support is at least enough to convince people that they don't want to go to the trouble of converting over to open source. But you're going to have to work at something. Either it's to put up with Apple deficiencies and paying for plug-ins to do what you want, or deal with the lack of integration, build your PIM information halfway from scratch and marvel at how much improvement has been made on this once lowly open source software. In a future review, after I've fully tested thing out, I'll discuss the direct comparisons of Thunderbird and Mail.

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