Proposal: (No?) email client for Ubuntu 17.10

[Robert Ancell]

I'm supportive of not including an email client by default given the
current selection. If there was a light-weight client available with good
features (e.g. Geary) I think there would be a decision but the listed
candidates are too big / old.

I think if there's no client though there should be good support for
handling mailto: links - i.e. either we have common web mail provider
support (e.g. Gmail) installed by default or at least a good dialog to help
you redirect to your provider when you click on these links.

--Robert

On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 8:08 AM Jeremy Bicha <jbicha at ubuntu.com> wrote:

> In 2011, we switched Ubuntu's default email client from Evolution to
> Thunderbird. Six years later, I think it's time to take another look.
>
> Should we even install an email client by default? The question is not
> whether it's useful, but whether it's useful enough to enough people
> to justify it being installed for everyone.
>
> - Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 included Evolution but 17.04 has no email client
> installed at all. The decision disappointed a few people but there
> hasn't been much negative feedback at all yet.
>
> - GNOME Release Team member Michael Catanzaro recommends not
> installing an email client by default since there isn't an app that is
> both well-maintained and very well-integrated into the GNOME 3 style.
> [1]
>
> - It's believed that most people just use web mail now, often along
> with apps on their smart phone.
>
> - A problem is that those who do prefer to use an installed email
> client do not all prefer the same one!
>
> If we do include an email client, which one?
>
> Thunderbird (TB)
> -------------------------
> 1. TB is still built with GTK2.
> 2. TB is a community project now and Mozilla no longer pays developers
> to work on it.
> 3. It looks like TB will have a lot of work to do next year once
> Firefox drops traditional extension support with FF57. This work might
> be shared with other apps that use Mozilla code.
> 4. TB does not integrate with GNOME Online Accounts.
> 5. TB has better Unity integration than Evolution.
> 6. There was a proposal a year and a half ago to turn TB into a web
> app but I don't think that went anywhere. [2]
>
> Evolution
> --------------
> 1. The UI doesn't fully embrace GNOME3 app design style, but it is
> closer than TB.
> 2. Small development team.
> 3. Evolution is not available on other operating systems.
> 4. Evolution is relatively easy to co-maintain with Debian.
>
> [1] https://blogs.gnome.org/mcatanzaro/2016/09/21/gnome-3-22-core-apps/
> [2] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/tb-planning/h97q9cDUZOU
>
> Thanks,
> Jeremy Bicha
>
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