HN

Comments (211)

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  mmooss
  I hope for the best but plan for the worst:I don't think people want to change email addresses very often. How do I know Mozilla will still be doing this in 5-10 years? (Edit: Others have pointed out that, if we can bring our own domains, technical users can retain their address. However, for non-technical users that's not an option.)Also, I'm not sure about charging a fee at the start (except for TB contributors) and providing a free tier later - reverse of the usual way of launching a product. Maybe this is a soft launch to shake out the bugs and build a little momentum, and you can pay if you want to take part?Mozilla could do something awesome here. I hate to say it, but here is a chance to start fresh and make big, legacy-breaking changes to Thunderbird. The new audience - which should become the vast majority if they are successful - won't care if it's not like the old Thunderbird (possibly unlike many on HN). Here is a chance to do something special and the mail client is all most users see or understand.
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  ttoinou
  Make thunderbird supports a local database with 100k emails with proper search ! Make us pay for that optimization if needed. Email is a big tool of communication for all businesses, Pros who make money daily through emails need to handle tons of emails, we’re ready to pay for that
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  stirlo
  https://thundermail.comSite is here with waitlist signup. It's also titled "For Those Who Know" and says: >> status beta_signup.is_open=true so perhaps theres a CLI or hidden way to signup immediately?
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  Y_Y
  > >> philosophy> open_source & privacy_focused & user_controlledIs their philosophy a bit string? Or maybe this simple mistake of using a bitwise AND is what's gotten Mozilla's mission so corrupted these last many years.
• inetknght
  So... after the Mozilla/Firefox EULA and TOS fiasco... there's no way in Hell that I'd touch this.
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  tristan957
  This is an announcement by MZLA Technologies, not the Mozilla Corporation. This thread is completely derailing because people do not understand the difference. Let's actually discuss the service, Thunderbird, or MZLA Technologies.
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  the__alchemist
  As far as I can glean, this is a "me" problem, but does anyone else find Thunderbird's search to be mostly-broken? I.e., will not find emails that should turn up in a query.
• gruez
  The article is pretty light on details so I'm going to ask: why should I get this compared to something like fastmail or protonmail? Does it at least have end to end encryption? Is this just going to be a case of Mozilla partnering with another service provider (eg. mullvad for mozilla vpn), slapping their logo on it, and collecting a royalty?
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  mentalgear
  Rooting for mozilla and their privacy-focused services. Been using the email-masking feature (generate forward email addresses) for a while and really like it.
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  theandrewbailey
  This is the best news I've heard of Mozilla in a long time.
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  evolve2k
  A few months ago I would have been excited and telling my friends. But no longer. I had long been an outspoken Firefox advocate in my city. Fix your trust issue.Trust once lost is not easily regained.
• rootsudo
  also competing with square and apple...I don't see how it's an effective product, if they released this 20 years ago at the advant of hotmail going downhill and the release of unlimited storage (lol) gmail it would've been a game changer since they had a client this whole time.But now, vendor lock in is strong w/ Microsoft and Outlook that I question do people even use Thunderbird? It was a great competitor to Outlook Express and 2003... but now.. I really don't know, but I guess their product managers think so."The Thunderbird database says its number of active monthly installs has dropped from 17.7 million in late December 2020 to 16.2 million in late March 2025, with the mail app struggling to keep up with the industry’s main players like Gmail.With the launch of Thunderbird Pro, Mozilla is adding Thunderbird Appointment, a new scheduling tool for sharing calendar links; Thunderbird Send, a rebuild of the discontinued Firefox Send; and Thunderbird Assist, a new AI-powered writing tool enabled via a partnership with Flower AI that is intended to do the processing locally to eliminate privacy concerns.The final launch will be Thundermail, an email hosting service using the open-source Stalwart stack. Usrs will be able to pick between thundermail.com and tb.pro domains."I really don't see how this is a market changer, the market is stuffed with competitors and every domain registrar offers some form of email service too.
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  sylens
  I hope this service will use JMAP and push the Thunderbird client itself to adopt it
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  dev_susan30
  Mozilla's Thundermail could be a game-changer, especially if they nail the privacy and security aspects. The market needs more competition, but it won't be easy to convert Gmail/Outlook users. Curious to see how the UI and features stack up. Hopefully, it's a polished product at launch.
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  giancarlostoro
  If Mozilla didnt waste money on dumb things I would sign up, but they could have done this long ago, and they definitely waste their income on dumb things. Like what happened to making Firefox fully oxidized? That would have made Rust drastically more mature and proven.
• guestbest
  It’s so seamless for chat to become the medium that we mostly communicate with this AI industry that it’s a shame email, which may have come about first, a little hazy on the history, email didn’t become the means of which we communicate with AI tools
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  sunshine-o
  Unless they pull out something really cool and revolutionary this is probably just a fax machine.Outside of the corporate world email is almost a legacy protocol. Like phone numbers we have one because we need to but do not really use it that much anymore.I believe email was de facto replaced by WhatsApp, iMessage, Social media and OpenID almost 20 years ago.Just ask a gen Z or Alpha when was the last time he sent an email.Now they are gonna try to ride the wave of the Big bad tech escape but Proton has a 10 years lead here.
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  soulofmischief
  I love Thunderbird the platform, but I'm gonna pass on a paid service, I am extremely happy with Migadu as a personal email provider. https://migadu.com/Mozilla has lost all trust from me, the recent privacy policy fiasco was the straw that broke the camel's back.
• syntaxing
  Seems like a Proton and Fastmail competitor more.
• wwarner
  I would be much happier to learn i could use tbird on my iphone.
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  iteratethis
  "Sipes confirmed Mozilla would ultimately end up charging for the features"I totally understand why and it's fair, but if you want to take on gmail, you just lost. Google is dominant because most of its services are free.
• FloatArtifact
  When I helped people migrate to Thunderbird, the number one missing feature is simply the focused inbox provided by Gmail. Unfortunately it ends up being a deal breaker.
• addicted
  This is a step in the right direction. I worry it’s about 12 years too late.The decision to reduce focus on Thunderbird was remarkably mistimed with the email client market just shooting through the roof with a bunch of orivate players being acquired for tens and hundreds of millions right after.
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  evolve2k
  A few months ago I would have been excited and telling my friends and community. But no longer. My long term endorsement is over.Trust once lost is not easily regained.Fix your trust issue.
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  intellectronica
  Is this an April Fools leftover?..
• a_bonobo
  Where will this data be hosted? There's no way I'm leaking even more data into the USA with the way US politics is going.From a different article:>Thundermail isn’t going to use your messages to train AI, it’s not going to invade your inbox with ads, and it’s not going to harvest and sell your data.And? We've seen with DOGE that they can just walk into any place and take your data, anyway. It's only safe if it's outside the US.
• commandersaki
  For me the two big things to assess will be how it handles aliases / catch all aliases and search.
• _blk
  Too little, too late. Already happy with Proton since 5+ years and it keeps getting better. Enterprise mail was a mess back then, now it's doable. In 5 years it should be good.
• 9283409232
  Mozilla should've been what Proton is. A company that sells privacy focused services. They went off chasing too many geese and now they are panicking. I don't think I would trust this service at this point.
• anon
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• timeon
  Where are the servers located?
• ChrisArchitect
  Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43554197
• ice3
  i wonder what the price will be and if it supports custom domains
• lofaszvanitt
  A bit late to the party, but it's one of the best mail clients available.
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  nektro
  another dilution of mozilla's resources :/
• anon
  undefined
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  varispeed
  Mozilla is American and with what's going in the world, we need a service like Gmail served by non-US entity.Many businesses are looking away from US based services.If Mozilla moved headquarters to Switzerland, UK or Norway, then maybe it would make sense.
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  n42
  is there a future where Mozilla buys Kagi and becomes the privacy Google?
• mcflubbins
  > Thunderbird ProIs this a late April fools joke?
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  devwastaken
  i would not get an email for a domain that will be up for sale in 10 years. mozilla is not a sustainable org and has lost its core principles. Mozilla best serves people by shutting down and letting younger and better orgs replace it.
• brunoqc
  Mozilla, let me directly fund Firefox instead please.
• oldpersonintx
  [dead]
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  pgt
  Never forget Mozilla’s stance on deplatforming & censorship (since scrubbed from Mozilla’s blog): https://web.archive.org/web/20210108215449/https://blog.mozi...
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  munchler
  I've tried to use Thunderbird multiple times over the years, but I always end up with a corrupted mailbox after a week or two, so I go back to Outlook. Is TB finally reliable enough to try again? I'd love to ditch Outlook, but I don't want to be a sucker.Update: OK, I'm trying it again.