Hi Tom,
> I use TB! because it has features that I *require* at this point in
> time. I browsed the pack, and this is the closest-to-ideal solution
> for me at this time.
Generally speaking, I agree. But please understand, more often
than not, people have expectations about their software, and
some of them are legit. E.g., before I registered TB!, I asked
on the list once and bugged Stefan twice about future DBCS
support, and I signed on after Stefan told me it'll be in v.2.
Now should RITlab suddenly decide to delay DBCS support, I might
scream.
Likewise, some might have signed on to TB! in no small part
because they thought v2 was near. I've no idea when exactly v2
was announced. If it's promised to be available (in public beta,
at least) a year ago (as some seem to suggest), then it's
probably a little too long. If M$ does that, we call it
vaporware. Since it's RIT, my attitude (as shown in several of
my posts recently) is: be more patient. It's, after all, a tiny
company, competing against 800-pound guerrillas who give their
software away for free (or bundle it in their
OS/browser/whatever). Some delay is understandable. But I can
also understand some people's frustration (if it's delayed as
long as they say).
> I use Agent for news reading. Used to use it for mail reading.
> I'd still consider it the best package available for both, as
> long as you don't need multi-server support... [snipped]
and nested folders, and don't care for its resources consumption
(under Win95/98, open 3 instances of Agent, and system resources
drop like crazy), and...
Don't get me wrong, I like Agent very much. I registered my
copy when it was 0.99b or so, and thought (and think) it's worth
every penny of it.
> Anyhow, I remember reading all of this stuff on the Agent
> newsgroups about "oh, development has been abandoned, time to
> find a new mail client," and I wonder "WTF? It's still the
> best package there is..."
I never whine on the Agent or other newsreader-related
newsgroups, but I don't really get you here. What's wrong with
looking around? How do I know Agent is still the best if I don't
look around? I know for certain TB! is the best email client
(for me anyway) for now exactly because I've just shopped
around.
Maybe abandoned development doesn't concern you, but it does
concern me. Should RITlab put further development of TB! on hold
indefinitely, I'll start looking elsewhere. I might still stick
around if I can find no alternative, just like I've stuck to
Agent for all these years, but I do look out for new newsreaders
in the hope I could find something as able as Agent, plus
multi-server support, nested folders, less resources
consumption, ...
> In other words, if TB! fills the need, use it. If it doesn't, find a
> piece of software that does.
The problem is, the choice has never been so simple. How do you
define "fills the need"? If filling the need means receiving
and sending email dutifully, tons of software do. We didn't
choose TB! because of that, did we? Many users (power users
especially) expect certain features for their email program,
but very few could find one exactly as they want. Unless one
have the ability and time to write one oneself, she has to
settle for the second best.
I settle for TB!, but I do like some of the features in Becky!,
Calypso, and others (including the one I dumped--LookOut
Suxpress (name credited to Deryk)), which I hope someday would
make their way into TB!. Hence an active development team is
important when choosing software--to me, that is.
--
Best regards,
Ming-Li mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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