Time to ditch Outlook? Eight alternatives tested

Specifications

Product Barca 1.1 Calypso Mail 3.3 Eudora 6.2
Vendor Poco Systems Rose City Software Eudora
Price ~AU$80 Free* ~AU$65*
Warranty 45 day trial N/A -see text 12 months*
Phone N/A N/A 01 858 651 1017 (USA)
Web www.pocomail.com www.rosecitysoftware.com/calypso www.eudora.com
Features      
Calendar Yes No No
Planner/Diary Yes No No
Notepad Yes No No
News group supp Yes No No
Mailbox search Yes Yes Yes
Security features Simple virus scanning, script control, HTML stripping No script support, mailbox lock Virus, trojan protection, Open SSL, scam/spam watch
Mail filtering Yes Yes Yes
Mail merge Yes No No
Spell checker Yes Yes Yes, inline
Encryption Mailbox Yes OpenSSL
Multiple user Yes Yes Yes
Protocols supported SMTP, POP, APOP, IMAP4 SMTP, POP, IMAP4, LDAP SMTP, POP, IMAP, LDAP
Content PocoScript, HTML, PGP HTML, MIME, PGP HTML, Java, scripts, SSL, ESP, MIME,
Address book formats for Import/Export CSV None LDIF, VCard
System requirements      
Operating System Win 98 – XP Win 95, 98 NT, XP Win 98 – XP, MacOSX
Disk space 16MB 6MB 9MB, 6.5MB
RAM Unspecified Unspecified Unspecified


Product Lotus Notes 6.5 Outlook 2003 PC Pine 4.61
Vendor IBM Microsoft Pine
Price AU$224.00 AU$189.00 Free
Warranty 12 months 5 year N/A
Phone 1800 808 066 13 20 58 N/A
Web www.ibm.com.au www.microsoft.com/products www.washington.edu/pine
Features      
Calendar Yes Yes No
Planner/Diary Yes Yes No
Notepad Yes Yes No
News group supp Yes Yes Yes
Mailbox search No Yes Yes
Security features Script, Java and cookie control, Dig. Signing Dig. Signing & encryption, macro blocking (dependant on 3rd party products)
Mail filtering Yes Yes No
Mail merge No Yes* No
Spell checker Yes Yes UNIX only
Encryption Yes Yes No
Multiple user Yes Yes Yes
Protocols supported SMTP, POP, IMAP4, LDAP, NNTP SMTP, POP, IMAP4, LDAP, NNTP SMTP, POP, IMAP4, NNTP
Content HTML, Java, scripts, S/MIME, LotusScript HTML, scripts, jAVA, S/MIME MIME
Address book formats for Import/Export Imp: VCard; Exp: CSV, TAB, TXT VCard N/A
System requirements      
Operating System Windows 95 - XP, Mac, MacOSX Win 2000, Win XP Windows, Linux, Unix, (MacOS, OS/2, Solaris)
Disk space 275MB (Win), 250MB (Mac) 150-350MB 7MB
RAM 64MB – 128MB 128MB Unspecified


Product Pegasus Mail 4.21c The Bat 3.0.1 PE Thunderbird 1.0
Vendor Pegasus RITLabs Mozilla
Price Free ~AU$60 Free
Warranty N/A 30 day trial N/A
Phone N/A 1 312 577 0481 (USA) 1 858 651 4084 (USA)
Web www.pmail.com www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat www.mozilla.org
Features      
Calendar No Yes Add on
Planner/Diary No Yes No
Notepad Yes Yes No
News group supp Yes Yes Yes
Mailbox search Yes Yes Add on
Security features HTML virus & trojan protection and web bug intercepting Specify readable file types, script blocking Script control, dig. Signing, HTML stripping
Mail filtering Yes Yes Yes
Mail merge Yes Possible with macros No
Spell checker Yes Yes Yes
Encryption Yes Yes Yes
Multiple user Yes Yes Yes
Protocols supported SMPT, POP, IMAP, LDAP, PH SMTP, POP, APOP, IMAP, MAPI SMTP, POP, IMAP, LDAP
Content HTML, MIME HTML, S/MIME, PGP HTML, S/MIME, JavaScript
Address book formats for Import/Export TAB, Tagged format CSV, LDIF, TAB, VCard VCard, CSV, LDIF, TAB
System requirements      
Operating System Windows 3.1 - XP, DOS Win 95 – XP Windows 98 – XP, Linux, MacOSX, OS/2, Solaris
Disk space 8MB 23MB 52MB (Mac: 72MB)
RAM 4MB Unspecified 64MB

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Talkback 20 comments

  1. What? can't search in Lotus Notes? The author didn't look to hard. I started playing with Notes v 4.6ish and it had full text indexing of the mail and attachments back then Anonymous -- 18/02/05

    What? can't search in Lotus Notes? The author didn't look to hard. I started playing with Notes v 4.6ish and it had full text indexing of the mail and attachments back then

    1. Depends on your server configuration Anonymous -- 23/01/08

      We run Domino and have indexing disabled for performance reasons and as a result Thunderbird can't search - it's not the fault of the client.

  2. Notes has excellent searching. `While there don't seem to be functions for mailbox searching and mail-merging' - Searching in Notes is probably the best and fastest of all these clients once full indexing is turned. Even without full text indexing it st Anonymous -- 20/02/05

    Notes has excellent searching. `While there don't seem to be functions for mailbox searching and mail-merging' - Searching in Notes is probably the best and fastest of all these clients once full indexing is turned. Even without full text indexing it still can search all mailboxes. Just go to all `all documents' and find as a basic way of doing it.

    Have seen mail merging done without any agents of thrid party app's, its in the help.

  3. The author says that Pine is the only alternative reviewed available to Unix users and then proceeds to review Mozilla Thunderbird which operates on all systems. Completely omitted were many other Open Source utilities available to package for W Anonymous -- 20/02/05

    The author says that Pine is the only alternative reviewed available to Unix users and then proceeds to review Mozilla Thunderbird which operates on all systems.

    Completely omitted were many other Open Source utilities available to package for Windows using the Cywin compiler.

    Why even mention Pine and its availability on Unix if the Linux community is being ignored here? The author should wake up and smell the Open Source.

  4. Thanks for the great article. After reading it I also tried many of the mentioned clients. I have to say that I also like Thunderbird the most. It looks very nice and I can customize it with another theme. Colorfull lines indicating different levels of qu Anonymous -- 21/02/05

    Thanks for the great article. After reading it I also tried many of the mentioned clients. I have to say that I also like Thunderbird the most. It looks very nice and I can customize it with another theme. Colorfull lines indicating different levels of quoted text are also great. Other features like quick search and advanced features are also very useful. It also imported my OE mail just perfectly and now I am a very happy user of Thunderbird. Oh I forgot to mention junk (anti-spam) filter. It is working perfectly so far. If you are still using Outlook Express and you haven't tried anything else I highly recommend you check out Thunderbird. I'm positive most of you will quickly switch to the more advanced and safe e-mail client.

  5. Thank you for alerting us to the problem. Lotus Notes does have mailbox search functions and we have amended the review accordingly. Anonymous -- 21/02/05

    Thank you for alerting us to the problem. Lotus Notes does have mailbox search functions and we have amended the review accordingly.

  6. Evolution is free and very good too. Anonymous -- 22/02/05

    Evolution is free and very good too.

    1. Evolution John -- 08/09/05

      Evolution is not bad at all, the big problem is that in a corporate world the connector to Exchange is a pile of crap, therefore limits its value to any deployment

  7. So has anybody heard of GroupWise? Seems to be a glaring omission, particularly given Novell's recent Suse acquisition and release of open source software. Anonymous -- 28/02/05

    So has anybody heard of GroupWise? Seems to be a glaring omission, particularly given Novell's recent Suse acquisition and release of open source software.

    1. No we haven't John -- 08/09/05

      Being a recent Open Source product doesn't suddenly make it good. At less than 2% of the worlds email users it's real value belongs to days gone past when Novell mattered to the world.

    2. Yes, I've heard of groupwise. Andy T -- 10/12/05

      It's been out now about 10/11 years (maybe longer), its novell's mail / group collaboration software, My experiences with groupwise have always been positive - its feature rich and can save you a lot of time when working with teams.

  8. What no comment about Incredimail Anonymous -- 28/03/05

    What no comment about Incredimail

    1. Incredimail Ali Dream60 -- 31/12/07

      I have been on the computer for about 12 to 13 years. 10 of those years I have had Incredimail.
      I found it to be fantastic and I seam to miss out on a lot of the bugs and nasties that float around.

      Well that was until I paid for the gold version this year 07.
      Had heaps of problems with the bought one but the free is great go get it wish I could go back to the free but ones bought you cant go back.

  9. Reading these reviews, it's obvious security & function count for very little. Anonymous -- 11/07/05

    Reading these reviews, it's obvious security & function count for very little.

  10. another alternative Anonymous -- 12/08/05

    I've been involved with beta testing something called OfficePax. Its something worth the while looking into. However, its not all that practical for personal use and it's not FREE (but beta version is, so get it while it lasts)

  11. free software is not the same as freeware Jessica -- 06/09/05

    In the editors choice, Mozilla Thunderbird was refered to as freeware. Please note that Mozilla Thunderbird is free software, this is not the same as freeware.
    <br><br>
    Below is an <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/categories.html#freeware">explination</a> from the Free Software Foundation's website:<br>
    The term ``freeware'' has no clear accepted definition, but it is commonly used for packages which permit redistribution but not modification (and their source code is not available). These packages are not free software, so please don't use ``freeware'' to refer to free software.

  12. Precisions h3 -- 07/09/05

    I also like Thunderbird among all other clients, for home use it's the dream e-mail client. But it's note quite ready for buisiness use .. contrary to what it said in the article, Thunderbird's LDAP support is only partial (read only). The MAPI implentation is broken too. There's also a lack of a mail transport server acting as a groupware, like exchange. But be sure that if it would exists, I'd be the first one to use it. In fact, the only replacement I've found for exchange is the pegasus mercury server, but I don't like it much.

  13. hackers,spammers and wiretaps Anonymous -- 10/07/06

    thanks for all of the help you all did for me!I had massive amount of difficulties if you remember me.

  14. hackers,spammers and wiretaps Anonymous -- 10/07/06

    thanks for all of the help you all did for me!I had massive amount of difficulties if you remember me.

  15. no one email client is like Outlook Express Alphonse Langueduc -- 31/12/07

    Hello,
    many and many times I searched for a valid alternative to Outlook Express but I found that there is not an available equivalent software.

    I especially refer at the fact that with Outlook Express I can use very powerful features, such as signatures and identities. With signatures I gain a lot of time because I can save in files unlimited predefined answers for common questions customers send me about my business.

    And with identities I can manage several emails account in an unique email client.

    In my knowledge, no other email client has these features. If you know someone, please notify me.

  16. Barca Pro James Tom -- 12/04/08

    I have downloaded Barca Pro and found its GUI very intuative and yet similar to Outlook, However if you are a Heavy Outlook user and have many calendar entries, TRY synchronizing the CALENDAR, its a nightmare.
    Each calendar entry has to be INDIVIDUALLY imported, and that was the nail in the coffin.
    Otherwise its a great program when starting off.
    Cheers

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