Best Email Client?

Hi, I'm in the middle of switching to Vista, and I'm considering changing my email client as well. I'm looking for a intuitive program with decent PIM capabilities.

I've come up with four options -- all of which I can get for free -- so price is not a factor.

EDIT: To clarify, Gmail = the web interface, Windows Mail = default mail program included in Vista.

 

Thunderbird, biggest and best free! Less corporate than the rest! Outlook 03 is free? Do you mean Express?

 

I can get Outlook 2003 free through my school. And I don't care if it's corporate or not -- I just want the best app.

 

OK if you want to support "the man" I think outlook is best. Calander schedule included it is the best no doubt!

 

haha when you said "the man" i laughed out loud.

anyways i use windows mail, aka hotmail, cause i've been using it for a long time and it works rly well for me.

 

If you just want to do email then all of them will be fine. Outlook has a nice calander, work with a exchange server to share contacts, calander and much more and can sync with phones and pdas better then the rest. Not everybody needs this and mostly school/uni students dont.

So yes Outlook is the best. But do you need what it has? If you just want to use email you wont find a differance between thunderbird, windows mail and Outlook. Gmail is webbased and different or did they make an application out of it?

 

Gmail is still only web-based, but it's a contender because of one thing: conversations. I hate having 12 different emails for one back-and-forth conversation.

I'm also thinking about switching from Google Calendar to Windows Calendar. Is there any reason why I shouldn't? What does GooCal have that WinCal doesn't?

 

Don't know Gmail but in outlook or thunderbird just click reply and include keep original text, then delete original, not so hard. Also it is bad enough sending private stuff over Internet but storing it on a server with a company who caved to China? I admit MS is not much beter but?

 

Maybe I am not as high tech as you but I couldnt imagin using web only applications for email and calander. I need them when I am offline too.

 

Good point!

 

I now use Windows Live Mail Beta and find it to be perfect and robust enough. It works over Outlook or Outlook express. I use it for my Gmail, Hotmail, AOL and Netzero mail. Unfortunately Yahoo doesn't work unless you have premium service.

Before that I was using POPPeeper, which IMO is the best simplified stand-alone E-mail client. Uses very little resources. But it's not meant to be robust, no calendar, tasks, etc:. Just Email. ALSO it's perfect to put on USB Flashdrives, incase you want to check e-mail on any other PC.

 

LIVEFRMNYC
Your avitar says it all, you are intense! He had 4 choices let us keep it to that. I am sure your suggestion is great but we just started over and confused the issue. Just My Humble Opinion.

 

Show me a Poll that people actually stick too? A poll is a poll, statements under a poll don't have to be exclusive to a poll as long as it's on topic.

Not to mention the Poll flawed if asked to choose just one ....being that Gmail isn't a client and Outlook & Thunderbird is a client that you can use Gmail on. Windows Mail could mean anything having to do with hotmail.

And since I use Gmail on POPPeeper & Windows Live Mail Beta I did not go of topic at all ....

 

You are correct but you are confusing me, I'm tired, it's late have a good night.

 

I'm using Windows Live Mail to manage both my contacts and mail. It integrates with the Vista UI pretty well too.

 

Outlook Express/2003. There really is no point installing crap on your PC when you've already got a decent program pre-installed into Windows that works perfect

This is sort of Off Topic, but it's shame hotmail cant be configured with Outlook.

 

hotmail cant be configured with outlook? thats just plain stupid.
But to be back on topic even though i use outlook 2007 since i have the office package might aswell use it right
Anyway i would say go for thunderbird very good and should you want to you just set up the pop3 settings to use a gmail account which is what im doing with my outlook

 

Windows Live Mail is interesting. Will it continue to be free after the Beta version?

 

I have used Thunderbird for a very long time now; however, I also have Outlook 2007 installed, without email configured, to provide another level of backup for my Windows Mobile based PDA via WMDC on Vista.

 

I use mailpicker.com to have access to all my mail in one place.

 

With Thunderbird you can use Lightning as an integrated calendar.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

 

I use gmail and gcal and also have Thunderbird (with Lightning calendar plug in) on my desktop. There is an add-on where it keeps the calenders synced between the two - but it's kinda buggy.

I recommend outlook on your desktop and gmail. There's some download from google that keeps them in sync, i believe. (both e-mail and calendar).

 

outlook 2007 and everyone.net personal mail plan... if you are serious about your email, everyone.net is the place you want to be.

Gmail, hotmail, aol, etc, are free apps and you get what you pay for... they don't allow you control of your email, but they control your email...

Outlook 2007 simply blows thunderturd out of the bowl....

 

I use my gmail account in outlook 2007, so that's my vote.

 

I use thunderbird, easy to use, fast & ad ons are nice

 

I'm using Windows Live Mail (which is not a poll option). It is like a cross between OE and Office Outlook............

 

Gmail!!!! =]

 

I use gmail and outlook. I like Gmail because I am able to check my mail anywhere and on any machine connected to the internet. I don't have a smart phone, nor does my phone have the ability, so I can't sync Outlook with my phone. I also like Gmail becuase of the massive free storage that keeps growing! I never delete an email and I don't have to worry about losing all my emails if my machine crashes. Not to mention Google Docs is a plus, along with the conversations like you mentioned earlier.

I like Outlook for its calendar and reminders. I would say that I find it's organizing functions a bit better than Gmail, I prefer folders to labels but, labels aren't too bad. I've never really used the Gmail calendar so I can not compare the two but, I definitely need access to my calendar offline.

 

Also, the gspace addon for firefox is awesome.

 

I voted for Thunderbird on this poll, but have since switched to Outlook 2007.

Thunderbird is a fine email client, but I wanted more, and without having to have a handfull of additional programs/add-ons, and with full compatibility with my handheld PPC. So I switched.

 

I have Outlook 2003, but I prefer Thunderbird.

 

I have Outlook 2007 on my personal computer, but don't need all the features. I use Thunderbird because I only need basic functionality and I like its interface.

However, Outlook has many more features and could be better for your uses. "Best" is subjective. I have different uses than others, and for me Thunderbird is best.

Over the summer at work, Outlook is used because it has many more important features than Thunderbird.