| First Thunderbird 2 release candidate emerges |
Apr. 09, 2007
 Mozilla this week made available the first release candidate of Thunderbird 2, the next generation of the organization's popular open-source email client. The team asks that users report any bugs or problems that they encounter.
There are many new features, a Mozilla spokesperson said. These include:- Message Tags -- Create your own tags for organizing email. Messages can be assigned any number of tags; tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.
- Visual Theme -- Thunderbird 2's theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability and maximize screen real estate.
- Session History Navigation -- Back and Forward buttons allow navigation through message history.
- Advanced Folder Views -- Customize the folder pane to show favorite, unread or recent folders.
- Easy Access to Popular Web Mail Services -- Gmail and .Mac users can access their accounts in Thunderbird by simply providing their user names and passwords.
- Improved Support For Extensions -- Extensions can now add custom columns to the message list pane in addition to storing custom message data in the mail database.
- Improved New Mail Notification Alerts -- New mail alerts include information such as the subject, sender and message preview text.
- Folder Summary Popups -- Mouse over a folder with new messages to see a summary of the new messages in that folder.
- Saved Search Folder Performance -- Search results for saved search folders are now cached, improving folder loading performance.
- Find As You Type -- Finds and highlights message text as you type.
- Improved Filing Tools -- Recent folder menu items for moving and copying messages to recently used folders. Move/copy again functionality included.
- Updates to the Extension System -- The extension system has been updated to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions.
- New Windows installer -- Based on Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, the new Windows installer resolves many long-standing issues.
- Windows Vista Support -- Many enhancements and fixes for Windows Vista.
Mozilla provides Thunderbird 2 for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X in a variety of languages. You can download Thunderbird 2 RC 1 here.
To view some screenshots and read an evaluation by DesktopLinux.com columnist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols of Thunderbird 2 Beta 1, go here.
Instructions on bug report filing can be found here.
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