Karmic Spec: Thunderbird Vs. Claws

[Simon Steinbeiß]

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:31:45 -0600
Charlie Kravetz <cjk at teamcharliesangels.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 14 May 2009 15:23:51 +0200
> Simon Steinbeiß <simon.steinbeiss at elfenbeinturm.at> wrote:
> 
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > I just wanted to give you an update on what I worked on recently, a
> > comparison between Thunderbird and Claws as standard mail client for
> > Xubuntu Karmic.
> > 
> > You can find my comparison here:
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Specifications/Karmic/ThunderbirdVsClaws
> > If you have thoughts on it, let me know. As it was a first-timer for
> > me there might be points that I've missed etc.
> > 
> > I hope this spec will be a good basis for deciding on the
> > standard-mail client in Xubuntu Karmic.
> > 
> > All the best
> > Simon
> > 
> > 
> > By the way, if I find the time I will try to do another test between
> > gpicview and geeqie (a gqview-fork), but I can't promise I'll be done
> > with that before UDS.
> > 
> 
> An interesting read for anyone still wondering about the power and
> ability of claws mail:
> 
> http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=780
> 
> This is from an individual outside of Xubuntu. 
> 

An interesting read indeed. I can only say that this totally reflects my initial impetus
of proposing claws versus thunderbird and that I'm still subscribing to this view.
However, I have found that either sides (claws, xubuntu) have their arguments about
usability (especially people who are not [ever going to be] power-users): claws doesn't
really target people who aren't able (or not willing to) deal with a certain amount of
flexibility (because they want to provide the best experience for the rest) and xubuntu
(at least imho) sometimes isn't so sure about its target group: is it the
linux first-timers? Is it people who switch from Ubuntu to something faster/more
lightweight and possibly more geeky?
I personally think that there is a very small (or even marginal) group of linux-first
timers that start with xubuntu and are overwhelmed by claws' complexity (at least that's
my personal experience with ~10 of my non-tech-nerd friends). but anyways, i think it's
a difficult decision if you want to increase your userbase.

In the end the question might be: does xubuntu as a whole have a really distinct profile?
(as opposed to Ubuntu) Obviously xfce makes a lot of that difference to gnome, and a few
different standard apps, different artwork etc (I really don't want to play down
xubuntu's individual character, but since mostly in our discussions about standard apps
we were talking about *first* impressions, this is one that some people outside the
community might get from looking at it) and xubuntu is supposed to be a lot more
lightweight than Ubuntu. (At least there are some tests out there suggesting that the
difference is not that big. I guess that's due to some common daemons... Whatever.)
But be that as it may (with the tests, I mean), I would be interested in your thoughts:
should xubuntu be geekier than Ubuntu or just as easy to use (yes, I think this might be
an opposition)? Also try to consider the question of speed and use on older machines, as
this seems to be one of the core features where xubuntu wants to outshine Ubuntu.

Alright, this got a bit long, sorry if I'm blathering too much. Will work on being more
concise :)

Simon