Thunderbird 1.0 released

Just over a month after the release of the highly successful Firefox browser, the Mozilla foundation has announced the release of Thunderbird 1.0 email client. Thunderbird, similar to Firefox, was developed with the support of hundreds of volunteers and developers across the world.

I've been using Thunderbird right from version 0.8 when it was still quite buggy for general use. There were some features that I found really interesting - like labels and spam protection. It had this whole GMail feel to it. I'm sure the guys at Mozilla must have souped up the client in more ways after that. Thunderbird will surely prove to be the perfect companion for Firefox.

The startling fact about Firefox and Thunderbird is that both have been really well designed. I think the design skill here takes us well beyond the simple observation that the Mozilla team isn't working for Microsoft, or that they are consulting the users (which they clearly are). Good interfaces are very sticky.

Now that GMail supports POP3, using Thunderbird for GMail could be a really good option incase your the type who'd want to download emails onto your desktop.

Try it and let me know what you think.