Thunderbird’s builders are planning to compete with Gmail and different e mail suppliers by providing paid “professional” tier companies, together with @thundermail.com e mail addresses and new companies resembling an appointment scheduler, file sharing instruments, and a few “Thunderbird Help” AI options. You’ll be able to be part of a beta waitlist by going to thundermail.com, which is the area for the e-mail addresses, together with an possibility for @tb.professional.
Thunderbird managing director Ryan Sipes introduced that the companies are within the works in a post on the Thunderbird Planning discussion group final Friday. Nevertheless, it appears fairly early in improvement, and there aren’t any introduced tiers and pricing, although Sipes stated there could be each free and paid tiers. “It’s our purpose to finally have an analogous providing so {that a} 100% open supply, freedom-respecting different ecosystem is obtainable for many who need it,” stated Sipes.
Thunderbird is a long-running open supply e mail shopper that initially launched in 2003 and was developed alongside Mozilla’s Firefox browser. It misplaced floor with the rise of Gmail and different web-based e mail companies, however maintained a devoted consumer base.
Mozilla ended improvement of the unique Thunderbird shopper in 2012 and handed it off to a group group. In 2020, after renewed curiosity and donations, development moved to Mozilla Foundation subsidiary MZLA Technology Corporation, which has been modernizing the codebase and growing cellular shoppers.
Thunderbird Professional companies, together with Thundermail, are coming in late to the sport with only a few particulars. In contrast to Gmail and Outlook, Thunderbird has by no means provided an e mail service to go along with its e mail shopper. Within the publish, Sipes stated, “It’s my conviction that every one of this could have been part of the Thunderbird universe a decade in the past. However it’s higher late than by no means.” It would additionally face well-liked Gmail options like ProtonMail and FastMail, however with the overall rise of mistrust in Large Tech and issues about privateness, perhaps it doesn’t damage to have extra choices.