Postbox Discontinued
Adam Engst (Hacker News, MacRumors Forum):
Sad news. The longstanding email client Postbox has been acquired and shut down by eM Client, described by the announcement as “a leading email platform for Windows and macOS that combines email, calendars, tasks, contacts, notes, and chat into a single, easy-to-use application.”
[…]
On the other side of the equation, I’ve never heard of any Mac users relying on eM Client, despite its cross-platform status. I was going to say that I’d never heard of it at all, but searching my email reveals that I tested it briefly in February 2022. I suspect it’s a Windows app that has been clumsily ported to macOS. (Ironically, I was just encouraged by a PR person to look at Mailbird, another Windows email client that just released a version that runs on the Mac but bears little resemblance to a true Mac app.) eM Client gained iOS and Android clients only this year.
There’s a migration guide. I know that eM Client has some dedicated fans, and I’ve received requests over the years for SpamSieve to work with it. Unfortunately, eM Client does not support plug-ins or have any meaningful AppleScript support. Some customers are running Apple Mail in the background to filter their mail with SpamSieve. They can correct any mistakes from within eM Client by moving messages to special TrainSpam and TrainGood mailboxes. I’m open to working with eM Client if they would like to add direct integration.
Postbox was based on Mozilla’s cross-platform, open-source code Thunderbird email app, which does provide native Apple Silicon code, along with timely development and updates, security fixes, and additional features, including calendars.
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Not going to pretend I’m surprised — I’ve waited four years for Postbox 7 to become a universal app, never mind Apple Silicon native — but what a bummer. Postbox in its prime was the best, and even though I’ve switched primarily to Thunderbird, I still occasionally open Postbox because its message search is light years better than Thunderbird’s. Were it not for the constant crashes, I’d still be using it primarily, because Thunderbird has a lot of paper cuts that annoy me regularly. Alas.
Was very disappointed to hear this. I’ve been using Postbox for about a decade and have referred many people to it. Em Client is okay, but it’s clunky and doesn’t feel native. I tried Mailbird and stopped within about 10 minutes. Feels even less native than Em Client and lacks any meaningful customization.
