The teams in charge of developing the Thunderbird email client have their work cut out for them. After launching a mobile version of Thunderbird on Android a few months ago, they now want to expand their offering with two new services: Thunderbird Pro and Thundermail.
These "Web services that improve the Thunderbird user experience" aim to retain users leaving Thunderbird in favor of more complete platforms, offering a rich ecosystem integrating several services, such as Gmail and Microsoft 365.
But Mozilla does not intend to offer a service as closed as those proposed by Google and Microsoft. True to its reputation, the Mozilla Foundation aims to offer a similar offering, but with a "100% open source and freedom-friendly alternative ecosystem."
A privacy-friendly alternative to Gmail and Outlook
Thunderbird Pro will be made up of four services. The first, Thunderbird Appointment, is a scheduling tool that lets you organize your appointments and other meetings. The second, Thunderbird Send, is the direct successor to the now-defunct Firefox Send, a closed online file-sharing service. in 2020. The third, Thunderbird Assist, is an experimental service that, thanks to a partnership with Flower AI, will allow users to access functions powered by artificial intelligence.
Finally, the fourth and final service, Thundermail, is, as its name suggests, an email service that will provide email accounts in the @thundermail.com format, but which can also be used with your own domain. With Thundermail, the Thunderbird team's goal is simple: to create a fully open source, confidential, and privacy-friendly email service.
For now, Thundermail is still being tested internally. However, it is already possible to sign up for the waiting list in the hope of being among the first to be able to access the service.
Moreover, while the economic model of Thundermail (and therefore Thunderbird Pro) does not yet seem to be completely defined, Thunderbird Pro and its various tools will, at least initially, be paid for for everyone (with the exception of community contributors). Once the user base is strong enough to ensure the sustainability of the services, several subscription offers, including a free, but limited one, should be proposed.
Source: Thunderbird
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