I have been using Thunderbird for well over a year now and I have no plans on using anything else ever again. I used to use Netscape Communicator 4.79 on my old Mac, I enjoyed the email interface included with that browser and could never find anything better in terms of speed and efficiency. Newer Netscape versions were just too bloated, when I moved to XP a few years ago (yes, reverse switcher) I settled on OE as my primary email client.

I really missed the abilty of typing in the first few letters of a name or just typing in "Mom" and having my email go to the correct place. OE would sometimes just not check my mail, or fail to notify me. Sometimes OE would just corrupt my mail files rendereing them useless. Combine all my troubles with the constant worry about security holes and I began to explore alternatives.

I tried several email clients including Eudora, but none had the same "snap" as the old Netscape and didn't have the launch speed of OE. I stuck with OE a bit longer, but eventually discovered Thunderbird at the same time as was switching to Firefox. I think Thunderbird usage would skyrocket if users were given an option to download it when installing Firefox. I have switched a lot of people, they will never go back to OE. The junk mail filter is flawless and adapts well, the look is clean and efficient. OE simply can't handle my 6 POP3 email accounts. Thunderbird can, case closed. Hard to believe it's FREE!