Email Program Alternative — Eudora

New subscriber Robert Sandoval wrote to ask:

Terry do you still recommend Eudora even though it is now open source?

I wrote back to Robert to tell hims that I don't use the latest version of Eudora.

Eudora 8 is the open source version. Rather than simply being Eudora turned open source, Qualcomm (the communications and chip company) released it to the Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla is merging features from Eudora into their previous email program Thunderbird, although both are expected to be available for a while.

Eudora 8 is still a beta version, though. I don't recommend it at this time for two reasons: I don't use it and I seldomly recommend betas, even if I use them.

Note, though, I only recommend programs that I use, or that I have used and changed to something else for some reason other than dissatisfaction. For example, I prefer and use Sunbelt VIPRE and Sunbelt Personal Firewall, but I tried Eset Smart Security 4 as one of the suite alternatives I considered at the request of readers who wanted a security suite alternative. I clearly state in my recommendation for Eset Smart Security 4 that I switched back to the Sunbelt products.

I use the Qualcomm version of Eudora from 2006 (v7.1.0.8). I'd still recommend it over the weak security of Outlook Express.

The Thunderbird version of Eudora, the last time I tried it, used only one outbound (SMTP) email server. I have several email accounts that I use for specific networks — for example, my terryscomputertips.com mailserver and accounts for most purposes, my personal account on my ISP (which I seldomly use) and a couple dialup ISP's (budgetdialup.com paid account and netzero's free account) for when I travel.

In the corporate world, I would use — and I do use — Outlook instead of any of the other email programs, especially if you have an IT department building other enterprise solutions around it.

It looks like I may have to start looking for a new email program, though. The Eudora I use has some issues with Windows 7. In particular, the Windows Registry is apparently configured differently (or the security on it is) such that some Windows XP programs have difficulty installing completely. Eudora v7.1.0.8 gives me an error message every time I start it, warning me that it was unable to modify the Registry to set Eudora as the default email program. Otherwise, it works fine.

I'll have to see what happens when Windows 7 is actually released in October(I'm running the final Release Candidate version, which still has some bugs). I pre-ordered two copies of the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade while it was on sale (the sale just ended in the U.S.), with plans to use them as soon as they arrive.

Copyright © 2009 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.