Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 Released

It seems to me that nowadays, the number of people using desktop e-mail clients is beginning to diminish. With services like Gmail offering support for external addresses, there are many reasons that  people may choose to forego installing an extra application on their PC. I’m the opposite, and the only web-based mail I use is on the our servers when I’m out of the house. I love the features and stability actual desktop e-mail clients offer, and I don’t see that changing soon.

Regardless of which OS you run though, the options for clients is quite slim. Although there are many out there, in my experience I’ve found many to be lackluster, or too specific in its goals. Sometime during 2004, I discovered Thunderbird from Mozilla, and I haven’t looked back. If there’s one reason it kicks ass, it’s because it’s cross-platform. Since I use Linux on a day-to-day basis, but sometimes Windows on notebooks, I can interchange profiles without an issue. So regardless of which PC I’m on, I can use my e-mail as I always do.

But if there’s one thing Thunderbird seems to be due for, it’s an upgrade, not only in features, but visuals. That’s where Thunderbird 3 comes into play. The first available beta was released last December, with a follow-up this past February. Just the other day, Beta 3 was released, tackling many issues that existed, while also adding a few new features. If you want to get an idea of what plans are floating around for the final release, you can check out the respective wiki page, and for Beta 3-specific information, hit up the link below!

I’m going to take the “do not use in a production environment” warning to heart and wait until the final release before really exhausting the new features.

Double-clicking or hitting enter on a mail message will now open that message in a New Tab window. Middle-clicking on messages or folders will open them in a Tab in the background. When quitting Thunderbird, visible tabs will be saved and will be restored when you open Thunderbird the next time. There is also a new Tab menu on the Tab toolbar to help you switch between Tabs.