Thunderbird

These days I am using all open source software.. I switched to Mozilla thunderbird and it is surely a better Email client. Compared to Outlook, it is a small software (In respect to size of the software) and handles all the functionality offered by Outlook. Only catch is you need to have some Add-ons installed to the base software.

When coupled with IMAP, thunderbird is just great.. But, it has its drawbacks as well and can be addressed with slight tweaks to the settings. I will list down some tweaks and settings to the basic installation that makes thunderbird a competition to MS Outlook.

Calender support

Thunderbird doesn't have a calender by default. So, it can not handle Appointments and schedules by default. To overcome this, we have to install an add-on called Lightning. This is also developed by Mozilla corporation and it integrates into thunderbird very well.

Minimize to tray

Most of the people use outlook in a minimized status to save space on their taskbar. Thunderbird can achieve this by installing an add-on called Minimize to tray.

Cursor position in Reply messages

Thunderbird adds the previous mail content as a quote and the cursor is positioned at the bottom when replying any mail. This is bit uneasy as we have to always press "Ctrl + Home" to go to the start of the mail before writing anything. To tweak this, follow the steps mentioned below:
1. In Thunderbird: Go to "Edit > Account Settings" *
2. Select "Composition & Addressing" for the account in question
3. Make sure the "Automatically quote the original message when replying" checkbox is checked.
4. In the drop-down box below that, select the option "start my reply above the quote"

* On Windows, the option can be found in: Tools -> Account Settings.

Why the World needs Mozillla firefox?

Internet has evolved from a collection of simple HTML pages into a complex version which are manipulating huge databases every day. It has become an integral part of our daily life that we can spend a day or two without food but we cannot actually survive without checking our emails.

The one most important tool to navigate through this web is a web browser.

A web browser is a typical software application which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. The browsers navigate through the web by following links and opening the addresses called URLs. There are many browsers available in the market like Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Epiphany and etc.

Mozilla Firefox was initially a sub-project of Mozilla Suite. Later, the suite was discontinued and Firefox became an individual entity. It is an open source project licensed under a tri license GPL/LGPL/MPL. As on date, it enjoys 19% of market share in the usage of web browsers world wide and stands in the second place only after Microsoft Internet Explorer. Though Internet Explorer is an inferior browser compared to Firefox, it holds the first place, thanks to its free integration into almost all Windows operating systems.

Firefox supports tabbed browsing, spell checker, find, bookmarking of web pages, and an integrated search system that uses the user's desired search engine. A huge number of third party add-ons are also readily available as the source code of the browser itself is open to everyone. Also, Firefox has an option to turn-off JavaScript if required. This is very helpful for the developer community. It also features a popup blocker which blocks the unwanted and annoying popups on web pages.

Firefox can run on Windows, Mac, Linux, and other Unix based operating systems. This way a Firefox user is never unprepared in the times of migration from one operating system to the other. By default most popular Linux flavours like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Suse come with Firefox. This way, it becomes very meaningful to browse the Internet with Firefox.

What is the point in using an opensource software without customising it according to our needs? Firefox is fully customisable according to individual preferences and this is unthinkable in Microsoft realm. Using about:config page, even a layman can change the browser behaviours according to his requirements. I promise you all, another article about customising Firefox as it is a different ball game all together.

Internet Explorer has also many features which are in Firefox. But, Firefox features tabbed browsing since its initial days and these are initial days of the same feature in Internet Explorer. The same case is with integrated search engines. Mozilla Firefox may not win the argument in a debate about the best browser around, but it is leaving no option for others except getting better to stay in the competition. It won the hearts of millions and serving billions by standing in a healthy opposition's shoes.