MUAs that compare with Outlook (your chance to show how much better Linux is than MS!!)
OK, I've read with great amusement all the chest-thumping going on about
MUAs, MTAs and how Microsoft email products are things that you scrape
off the bottom of your shoe.
I, for one, am brand-spanking new at Linux and have yet to find a Linux
MUA that meets my needs. I really do like Linux and would like to
transition over to it for my desktop machine, but because of it's
weakness on the MUA side, I haven't been able to do so. ("weakness" is
my perception - you can prove me wrong by continuing to read)
So, here's a list of my requirements and I'm hoping you guys can point
me to an MUA that meets them. If so, I'll gladly switch over to Linux
full-time and forswear Microsoft forever. :)
- Must be able to handle multiple IMAP-based accounts. (not necessarily
on the same server)
- Must be able to easily change which account I'm sending email from,
ideally selectable from the individual message composition screen.
- Must support caching of IMAP messages to local folders (i.e. offline
mode) no -- POP3 won't work for me.
- Must be able to provide a view similar to Outlook's folder list that
shows me, *at a single glance* how many unread messages I have in each
of my IMAP accounts. No switching around, no multiple keystrokes -- one
screen.
- Must have preview pane capabilities or, at the very least, something
similar to Outlook's show first 3-lines capability.
- Must have sophisticated filtering/rules capabilities. (pretty sure
procmail can fulfill this)
- Must support automatic spell-checking of emails.
- Must seamlessly handle MIME attachments (meaning I click on the "add
attachment" button/key, select the file from the hard drive and send the
email message with no other farting around.)
- Must have integrated address book (or seamlessly integrate into
another address book program) This includes auto-completing email
addresses as they're entered and the ability to enter actual names and
have the address program substitute the email address upon sending.
- Must have integrated calendaring program (or seamlessly integrate into
another calendar program)
- Must synch up with Palm Pilots (at least address book and calendar --
don't care about synching email)
- Address book must support exporting for use in other programs.
- Nice to have a debian package, but not required.
- Nice to be free, but not necessarily required.
- Be as stable (or more) as Outlook 2002.
- Does not have to be one single program, but does have to integrate
reasonably simply. I'm not willing to write custom code or spend 12
hours on fiddling with things to get them interoperating correctly.
(especially as this is not something I have to do with Outlook)
These are, IMO, very reasonable, standard requirements and they are
things that I *rely* on to get my job done. Again, I really hope that
there's a package (or set of packages) that will allow me to do what I'm
looking for. So far, I haven't seen it. And yes, I will gladly
sacrifice a *little* stability in order to achieve these features and
capabilities.
If there isn't, then I hope the person who stated "anyone who uses MS
email products is ignorant" will reconsider their statement.
Thanks.
--kurt
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