Thunderbird-based Eudora 8 beta 1 debuts

Eudora has always had a couple features that, although obscure, are significant technical advantages of the product. 1) the ability to automatically strip attachments to a folder, so that you can manage files in a file system, not attempt to manage files in email. Links to the files remain in the email message. 2) the ability to define mail groups that have access to a central storage repository, so that attachments were not bouncing around the net, eating bandwidth and creating a configuration management nightmare from all the copies of a file now distributed everywhere.

These 2 features make Eudora stand out, at least from an IT management perspective, above virtually any other email client currently available.

Damn ! I haven't seen this since version 4 or 5_

Didn't know there was a 6 or 7 much less now they're releasing 8_ Hmm....

The "feature" of stripping attachments means users never have to look at their filing system, neh, wouldn't know where to look for their attachments if you made them look at their file system. What filing system? Everything is in the attachments folder,.. somewhere...

That feature is a bug, to me. After 5 years of looking at the mangled morass of user's multiple Eudora attachments folders, I wince when someone says Eudora is their client.

I've used Eudora for years for one of my .edu accounts. I tried the new version, but upon start up the option to import settings from somewhere was non-functional. You couldn't even choose the option (greyed out).

Way to go Eudora team! Long-term users ain't gonna bite on this one if they have to leave all their pop mail in the old version.

The "feature" of stripping attachments means users never have to look at their filing system, neh, wouldn't know where to look for their attachments if you made them look at their file system. What filing system? Everything is in the attachments folder,.. somewhere...

No, you don't have to go searching for the files (why would you need to). The attachments are still linked to the email, just like in Mail

That feature is a bug, to me. After 5 years of looking at the mangled morass of user's multiple Eudora attachments folders, I wince when someone says Eudora is their client.

There is nothing 'buggy' about this feature. Some people find it refreshing to be able to throw out some crappy attached files assigned to emails, without having to delete the emails.

I used to use Eudora for my work email specifically for this feature. Many of the files I would receive would require me to process/import them. Reading them directly from the attachments folder means not having to copy it first to someplace, use it, then remember to delete the copy so I don't get multiple copies all over the place.

It also makes the mail database much smaller, and thus, easier/quicker to backup. Backing up my work outlook box requires a good GB of space each backup, most of which is sucked up by large attachments that never need to change.

BTW, Powermail, a very good email app for OS X, works this way. And it has a decent filtering system and much more configurable than Mac Mail.

The only thing I can find here of Eudora's identity is the icon and name. This looks like another Firebird with Eudora's name. Doesn't use my Eudora mailboxes, plugins, nothing. Whatever you might think of Eudora or Firebird, this just isn't Eudora. It's terribly sad to take Eudora's name and pay no respect to the program at all. Whatever you might have liked or disliked there were dozens of things it did that no one else ever did and I depend on these things. I test other programs every few months to see if I can leave Eudora and I can't. Sticking with the far more powerful real Eudora 6.2.4 until we see what Odysseus looks like.