Hello Simon, Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 9:03:25 AM, you wrote:
> As you can see from my signature I am a Linux freak as well. I'd just like > to add a couple of comments: > 1.- Linux is a good operating system, so is Windows, so is OSX, so is BSD, > so was VMS, so was OS2, so is VM, so is OS400, and so are most of the others. > Whichever OS you choose, you'll find that it will be better at some things > and worst at others. Don't confuse personal preference with better or worst. I confess: I intentionally referred to Linux -an excellent manifestation of what can be achieved in an "open code, mutual user self-help and community development cultural environment (much like that of TB! Groups - except for the open code), in a rhetorical manner, reflecting a personal preference and value system. That said, the fact is, I continue to depend on two Windows applications, one of which is TB! (although the use of TB! for Linux stops with the v. 3.x, for now) and the other is EccoPro (which has not been developed since v. 4.01, a late 1990's version). Given the difficulty of porting TB! to Linux (and other Unix-like OS's) at present, you recommended Evolution as the most appropriate TB! substitute (which would provide a limited functionality of what both Ecco and TB! provide) and I want to thank you for that recommendation. (And if this discussion is too OT for TBBeta, I can email you off list). But assuming that Evolution can't import a TB! backup file, I want to ask about the possibility of exporting my TB! message base to a form Evolution could import. As mentioned, for now I am using TB! v. 3.99.3 on both Mint and OpenSuse (and a version 4.x on Windows - albeit I now use Windows rarely), with a high degree of success (stability and speed) and only a limited loss of functionality. The attributes of TB I use most are: 1.- The Message Dispatcher (under pop - I check the first 30 lines of each message before downloading or deleting any); 2.- Color Coding Messages; 3.- Adding Notes; 4.- The Multi-lingual Spell-checker 5.- Filtering - 6.- Templates - 7.- The automatic features for creating Address Books; 8.- It's Autosaving and Backup and Restoring capacities (all of which seem to work fine on Linux, so far); 9.- It's Security features (perhaps less of an advantage under Linux but important under Windows); 10.- The Tech Support (from both the TB! Lists and the Developers); 11.- Formatting Keystrokes (with some loss of functionality under OpenSuse - so far I can get "all lower case" or "first-letter caps" but not "all caps", and the "column function" is present on the menu but doesn't work in practice) and automatic formatting. I don't use the Ticker and haven't tried using Virtual Mailboxes. One feature I would like to see implemented would be "Hibernation",so that TB! closes and reopens with the same windows available. I accept statements like "OS <???> is better than OS <???> when you want to <???>" (fill in the ??? with what you want). Very well stated. Noticeable differences in TB's functionality appear to exist between (Ubuntu based which in turn is is Debian based) Mint and OpenSuse, for instance, and there appear to be trade offs involved, perhaps in part due to the different compartment parts used (i.e. Grub vs Grub2, Parted vs. GParted - although not necessarily in relation to TB!). (And speaking of Debian, is a live CD/DVD available for Lenny? I haven't been able to find one). But I also consider motivation to be a significant factor when choosing an operating system environment and I'm not favorably impressed with Bill Gates' history (the way he became the richest man in the world -for a while- or some of the activities carried out by the B & M Gates Foundation), and rather than being an innovator (he purchased almost all of most of what he has sold) he captures and holds on to markets (betraying IBM to do so), doesn't share Windows Source code with competing office suites and browser programmers and many of the so-called "upgrades" are designed to prevent others from using unauthorized copies of M$ products, rather than provide increased functionality. So IMO, the principle positive aspects of Windows come from the contributions of third party developers and not Microsoft itself and this becomes less of an issue over time, as more and more developers provide both open-code and proprietary solutions for Linux and similar systems. As you mentioned, these are personal evaluations that may or may not be shared by all Windows users. > 2.- If you are using Linux then go with Evolution. Why do I choose The Bat! > on Windows? Because of it's security (internal HTML engine) and it's > filtering capabilities. I stopped using The Bat! because of it's lack of good > IMAP support and came back with the 5.x beta because IMAP now works as well > as other Windows clients. Evolution has all this as well. Filtering is not as > versatile as The Bat! but it's good enough, and you get iCal support which > you don't with The Bat! iCal Support? > My personal recommendation would be for Ritlabs to stay away from Linux as > the cost will far out way the benefits. It's hard to compete with free, > especially when the free implementation is very good. That's logical. But I've been using TB! for over 10 years and don't yet know how many of the attributes mentioned above can be found in a Linux compatible email client. (the freeware Foxmail was my TB! backup and also has a Message Dispatcher but it too is a Windows application). As you can see (?), the signature cutoff doesn't work under OpenSuse (which of course, does, provide Evolution - and Linux systems seem to be far better for installing additional software, as more and more repositories are continually updated. OTOH, installing applications not contained in repositories can be trickier). Lastly - TB! will export it's Message Base to .msg, .eml and Unix Mailbox formats and I am hoping that Evolution (to try it out) is able to import one or more of those. Opinion? -- Douglas Hinds Dir. Gral. Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural, A.C. Guadalajara > -- > __ _ Debian GNU User Simon Martin > / /(_)_ __ _ ___ __ __ Project Manager > / / | | '_ \| | | \ \/ / Milliways > / /__| | | | | |_| |> < mailto: smar...@milliways.cl > \____/_|_| |_|\__,_/_/\_\ > Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes > -- Best regards, Douglas mailto:cede...@gmx.com ________________________________________________________ Current beta is 5.0.0.153 | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
