Is Email Holding Linux Back?

Today I talk about why email may be holding some people back from using Linux. I also wanted to rant about email again.
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#rant #email #thelinuxcast

[mateowoetam]

I just use the browser for email, I honestly forgot that email apps existed.

[bertnijhof]

I used Outlook in the past for work, now I use Evolution and I see no real difference. It gives me the same facilities; email; appointments; task list; holidays in my case of 2 countries and birthdays of all contacts :)

[itildude]

You're totally right. Email support on Linux sucks, and Exchange support is a lot of that.

[russjr]

I'm not sure if I'd say email itself is the problem here, but "Office" in general. If you're stuck not being able to use Outlook because of work, I'd say there's a very high chance you probably need the other office apps as well which are also not on Linux.

For personal email, I'm not sure I'd say Outlook is better, but we'd just have to agree to disagree on that one. I did like AirMail on macOS when I briefly used a MacBook, however. Funnily enough, when I use Windows, I still just use Thunderbird there too :P

[kylehennkens]

I thought this video was going to be about how kernel devs communicate on mailing lists

[Dennis-Earl-Smiley]

Since I no longer need the calendar from outlook, I'm banking on thunderbird being "good enough" for me when I redesign my servers. I think it will be able to function.

[Reaper]

I completely agree with this actually. Not having a good email client is one of the main reasons I stopped using linux as my main OS and started using Windows with WSL instead.

Evolution was in theory the closest I had gotten to a good client, but for some reason it would break my wifi a few days after install, and I would have to delete files out of netplan every few days or it would break again.

[AdrielVelazquez]

I use Linux, and I hate email on Linux. Specifically, because I pay for Spark Email Client.

I get a ton of emails, and smart email clients are a god send. Until they develop for Linux, I have to begrudgingly go to Gmail or use my phone.

[curtdawe]

I have issues with the way Linux E-mail clients handle SPAM.

[deultima]

I will agree with this as I remember when I first made the switch I really missed the Office suite especially Outlook. Overtime I just learned to live with the alternatives like Thunderbird and Libre Office, but honestly it is one of the things Microsoft does better. However I really have adapted and would never look back, but if Microsoft did start making Office for Linux, I would honestly consider it.

[aa]

not having clear compatibility between something like onlyoffice/libreoffice to docx/ms word is also massive.

[andyreichert]

I completely agree. I use Thunderbird on Linux as it's at least minimally functional. Though I tend to actually manage my email on a mac where I'm spoiled for choice with different options that work for me. This was one of my biggest surprises when I switched my PC over to Linux. I wish I had hope that it would be addressed, but it doesn't seem high on the priority list.

[motoryzen]

Email was not holding Linux back and gaming is no longer holding Linux back. It is the individual end user who is either too afraid or too complacent to try to take baby steps towards migrating to Linux again baby steps not cannonballing the damn Linux pool

[IAmTheSlink]

You said yourself that Outlook is meh, so I fail to see how Thunderbird also being meh is somehow bad.

I have worked for companies who used Outlook, and I had no loss of functionality using Outlook in Firefox from Linux.

The number of people who still need an email app is small and shrinking. The number of those people who also use Linux is even smaller. The number of people who don't switch to Linux because of this has got to be so small that I can't imagine anyone thinking that this is a problem which needs solving.

[bscura]

I've got no problem with keeping people who love Outlook away from Linux.

[josys]

I use Thunderbird with my 3 personal email accounts. For me it's fine. If you do indeed need Outlook for work, I'd just run a VM. I have a Windows laptop that work provides so that's pretty easy for me.

[gregcampwriter]

I've always accessed e-mail through a web browser, so this has never been a problem for me.

[ruenoak]

Outlook in the enterprise is the default, and I've been in the Linux world for a very long time and there is not really any email client that is on par with Outlook. Outlook is not just a email client in the enterprise it is often the management of your work day- week etc It's everything. Linux has email clients that work fine as 'Email Clients' not work life management software.

[fakecubed]

While I haven't let this stop me from daily driving Linux, and I do most of my email on my phone now, I'm glad to hear that this isn't just me who thinks email on Linux kinda stinks.

[schemage]

Let's cut you off halfway through for just a moment. Aside from exchange support (which we might consider a valid "software" limitation that prevents the adoption of linux), how "good" is outlook? You're entire arguement seems to revolve around this concept that Thunderbird and other popular linux mail clients are just not "good". But is Outlook, actually any good either?

Yeah, Thunderbird and others might look a little dated, but I daresay they have all the features that Outlook has (at least all the features a person would need on a daily basis). So are they good? I think they are good enough!!! Just like Outlook is good enough, which is fortunate because Microsoft isn't offering an abundance of choices in mailing clients.