Mozilla To Launch 'Thunderbird Pro' Paid Services (techspot.com)
- Reference: 0176896215
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/04/01/2046253/mozilla-to-launch-thunderbird-pro-paid-services
- Source link: https://www.techspot.com/news/107366-thunderbird-email-client-venturing-new-pro-tier-commercial.html
The Pro tier will [2]include four core services : Thunderbird Appointment for streamlined scheduling, Thunderbird Send for file sharing (reviving the discontinued Firefox Send), Thunderbird Assist offering AI capabilities powered by Flower AI, and Thundermail, a revamped email client built on Stalwart's open-source stack. Initially, Thunderbird Pro will be available free to "consistent community contributors," with paid access for other users.
Mozilla Managing Director Ryan Sipes indicated the company may consider limited free tiers once the service establishes a sustainable user base. This initiative follows Mozilla's 2023 announcement about [3]"remaking" Thunderbird's architecture to modernize its aging codebase, addressing user losses to more feature-rich competitors.
[1] https://www.techspot.com/news/107366-thunderbird-email-client-venturing-new-pro-tier-commercial.html
[2] https://thunderbird.topicbox.com/groups/planning/T437cd854afcb1395
[3] https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/02/09/1651259/the-future-of-thunderbird
No mail hosting services? (Score:5, Insightful)
If they want to offer a solution that mimics GMail and O365 they're going to need to host the actual email services. People don't use GMail and O365 for the client, they use it because of the basic back end email service.
Simply having a "Pro" tier of the client for OSS means some enterprising folks will replicate the tier functionality with free addons.
Re: (Score:1)
This.
How much server space do I get for the money? None? Pffft. I am not sure what it will take to get folks like me who are too cheap to donate to change their minds.
Re:No mail hosting services? (Score:5, Informative)
> If they want to offer a solution that mimics GMail and O365 they're going to need to host the actual email services. ...
Yes. That's the "Thundermail" part of the Pro Package though the Summary mangles it/confuses it.
The original announcement (that's linked from TFA ) is more clear [1]https://thunderbird.topicbox.c... [topicbox.com]
[1] https://thunderbird.topicbox.com/groups/planning/T437cd854afcb1395
Thunderbird Server as a Way Forward (2015 by me) (Score:2)
[1]https://pdfernhout.net/thunder... [pdfernhout.net]
"To deal with Thunderbird's technical debt (which Andrew Sutherland described on the Mozilla Governance thread that Mitchell Baker started), I propose Mozilla fund a "skunkworks" team of about seven people for a year to create a new server version of Thunderbird (called "Thunderbird Server", or "ThunderbirdS" for short) that runs initially as a locally-installed Node.js app providing a single-page JavaScript/TypeScript/Mithril/D3 webapp for email handling and other peer-to-p
[1] https://pdfernhout.net/thunderbirds-are-grow-manifesto.html
Re: (Score:3)
RTFA never dies. The summary isn't great about it, but from the article:
"Mozilla Managing Director Ryan Sipes revealed that the new bundle of services is called "Thunderbird Pro," which includes several features including a new email service called Thundermail (think Gmail)."
Re: (Score:2)
It's very VERY unclear what that offering is. Will they host my domain? Are they just a relay? This needs to be expanded in order to know what they are REALLY offering and how secure the services might be.
Re: No mail hosting services? (Score:2)
I certainly use Gmail for the client. Having access from any device, and fast search capabilities, is very helpful. A local Thunderbird client couldn't do that, unfortunately.
That said, there are many problems in Gmail, especially privacy wise. I expect there would be some with any free to use cloud email service. They have to be paid for somehow.
I used to roll my own mail server in my 20s, but that got a little bit old to maintain.
Smartphones weren't around then, also, so there was no need for a separate m
"feature rich" (Score:5, Insightful)
"Feature Rich" is a time-honored foolhardy mistake.
Thunderbird has been the go-to mail client of choice for over 20 years.
Thinking that they had to compete with the bloated and slow Outlook was a mistake.
I want a slim email client, and Thunderbird is moving faster and faster away from that. Outlook may be the competition, but making all those mistakes is not the solution.
Re: (Score:2)
Doing these things isn't the solution to the problem that you're talking about, but the problem that you're talking about is not the problem that they are trying to address. Mozilla is currently heavily dependent on Google for revenue (it's something like 80% of their total revenue), and that is the problem that they're focused on.
They need to compete with Outlook because people pay for Outlook. No one pays for Thunderbird.
Stop right there! (Score:3)
"comprehensive communication platform"
No one wants another Microsoft 365. In fact, no one wants the first M365 either. It's too bit, too clunky and trying to much than it's healthy for it to do.
Do you want to do something that people would buy instead of M365? Create an email client that is just an email client. A product that does a single job and does it well.
Re: (Score:2)
> Create an email client that is just an email client. A product that does a single job and does it well.
Like Thunderbird? It is a pretty good email client. It's OSS, cross platform, I use it with several email providers and it pretty much does what I expect from an email client. Also, K9 on Android FTW.
Re: (Score:2)
Bring back Eudora? I quit using it when MacOS 10.2 shipped.
I don't have enough email to get exercised about the client. Everything over 90 days old gets deleted except for bills and receipts which stick around for 180 days. Spam is on insta-death.
Why (Score:2)
And who asked for this
Something, finally (Score:2)
If I were Dog-Emperor of Mozilla, this is probably not the play I would have made. Haven't done any market analysis, but a paid email/office offering doesn't strike me as a great market to enter now.
That said, I'm really glad they're actually building something that can generate recurring revenue, that isn't a fly-by-night shitcoin or LLM play, or yet another data-generating useless service glued on to Firefox.
On the other hand, I recall when Netscape died. It was after it Microsoft ensured charging fo
Better Bird? (Score:2)
Anybody using better bird?
I'm debating switching.
I'm sure it's safe to assume if we don't pay for the pro features they will be advertised to us all the time.
Will history repeat? (Score:2)
I use Firefox and Thunderbird. I believe in the value and mission of Mozilla and its programs.
I think nearly everyone on Slashdot knows why this is important.
I would hate to see it fail.
About a year and a half ago, Mozilla offered a VPN. I thought that would be a nice thing to get - for three reasons:
One - It seemed like a good way to support Mozilla and give them some money - a fair bit of revenue if enough people used it.
Two - I had some faith that a Mozilla product would be safe, from a trustworthy com
Aside (Score:1)
Hopefully this will give their coders/bosses something meaningful to focus on, rather than endlessly mangling the GUI as has been the case since, like it seems forever.
April fools (Score:2)
But that's Mozilla, so this can very well be the actual plan with badly timed announcement. Why those people can't just stick to doing one thing and doing it well...
No thanks (Score:2)
"Just what I wanted" - said nobody.
How about fixing bugs and implementing [1]things the users are really asking for [mozilla.org]?
[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1823007
Oh, so that (Score:2)
Is what desperation smells like.