What should I prefer Kontact or Thunderbird on Kubuntu 13.04

[Guest]

I have Kubuntu 13.04 installed on my desktop. I am very much a newbie. I read on many websites that Thunderbird is better and more user friendly than Kontact.

Like Kontact, Thunderbird also handles all tasks handled by Kontact.

Can anyone suggest me, which should I prefer and how to configure them for 2 different emails(gmail and yahoomail) and how to set them as default for all tasks like feeds, twitter feeds, facebook posts and addressbooks, calenders, reminders, SMS, etc.

[SteveRiley]

Try them both and see for yourself -- no one here can act as a substitute for your own testing.

Personally, I like KMail and the rest of the KDE PIM much better than Thunderbird. It feels much more modern, and works well with my IMAP mail, CalDAV calendar, and CardDAV addressbook servers. Thunderbird requires addons to use calendar and addressbooks on servers. I haven't kept up with KDE PIM integration with Google for a while now, however, so this will be something you'll need to test. I have no idea how the PIM works with Yahoo.

[blackpaw]

Kontacts connectors for Google Contacts and Calendar work very well now, two sync is quite smooth.

I have excellent results with Gmails IMAP as well, but ensure to use disconnected mdoe or it will be rather slow.

Email searching is the main problem area at the moment. Work in progress.

[woodsmoke]

Both are good and both have their strengths, however, Kontact is a "suite" and now that it is able to hook into the college's Exchange mail system, I use Kontat exclusively.

woodsmoke

[SteveRiley]

The advantage of Thunderbird is that it also does newsgroups, something I use quite a lot.

Ever check out KNode?

[dmeyer]

You do know Kontact and Thunderbird are light years apart. Kontact has Kmail, Kalendar, Akregator, a To Do thing based on Kalendar, Summary view, KJots and KAddressbook, Thunderbird is a good email client with some cool RSS tricks up its sleeve. Thunderbird doesn't deliver a powerful calendar package. It doesn't have a kickass addressbook system like Kontact. It doesn't have an answer to somethings at all.

Now the make and break of any PIM suite is the email client. Kmail is incredible, it handles mailing lists like a champ, its integrated encryption and mail signing is unmatched. Might I add that its mail editor is quite a bit more feature rich and auto recommends photo resizing if photo's are too large. It has Thunderbird matched and beaten on a feature for feature basis. What Kontact's killer feature is its integration with KDE and other PIM apps. The integration is epic. Plasmoids, notifications, its just one big integrated love nest.

Where Thunderbird has Kontact beat: spam filter and speed in some cases speed (nullified with disconnected imap).

Just remember Kontact works with almost every service under the sun which is a big pull and its integration is great.

Don't forget, Kontact is actively developed and maintained. Thunderbird is sort of just surviving. Plus, there is QML in Kontact's future!

P.S. I do love Thunderbird but it doesn't meet me requirements. Kontact requires a bit of setting up and its feature rich to the point of bloat but overall its a package that is very reliable and can't be beat. Thunderbird is a capable email client but that's all it is; Kontact is a PIM suite.

P.P.S. Evolution is awful!!!

P.P.P.S. I I didn't make the distinction between Kontact and Kmail evident because I use it as Kontact though Kmail works perfectly and no less feature rich without Kontact.

[vw72]

You do know Kontact and Thunderbird are light years apart. Kontact has Kmail, Kalendar, Akregator, a To Do thing based on Kalendar, Summary view, KJots and KAddressbook, Thunderbird is a good email client with some cool RSS tricks up its sleeve. Thunderbird doesn't deliver a powerful calendar package. It doesn't have a kickass addressbook system like Kontact. It doesn't have an answer to somethings at all.

Now the make and break of any PIM suite is the email client. Kmail is incredible, it handles mailing lists like a champ, its integrated encryption and mail signing is unmatched. Might I add that its mail editor is quite a bit more feature rich and auto recommends photo resizing if photo's are too large. It has Thunderbird matched and beaten on a feature for feature basis. What Kontact's killer feature is its integration with KDE and other PIM apps. The integration is epic. Plasmoids, notifications, its just one big integrated love nest.

Where Thunderbird has Kontact beat: spam filter and speed in some cases speed (nullified with disconnected imap).

Just remember Kontact works with almost every service under the sun which is a big pull and its integration is great.

Don't forget, Kontact is actively developed and maintained. Thunderbird is sort of just surviving. Plus, there is QML in Kontact's future!

P.S. I do love Thunderbird but it doesn't meet me requirements. Kontact requires a bit of setting up and its feature rich to the point of bloat but overall its a package that is very reliable and can't be beat. Thunderbird is a capable email client but that's all it is; Kontact is a PIM suite.

P.P.S. Evolution is awful!!!

P.P.P.S. I I didn't make the distinction between Kontact and Kmail evident because I use it as Kontact though Kmail works perfectly and no less feature rich without Kontact.

While I truly like Kontact, thunderbird has it beat hands down in one critical area (for me). When you have to live in a mixed OS world (Windows and Linux), using thunderbird allows you to have the same email and calendar program (with the appropriate plugin) on both platforms. That way, regardless which platform or where I am at, those tasks are handled the same way. So, while it may not be a consideration for everyone, if you fall into such a situation, thunderbird warrants consideration, even if kmail/kontact is a better linux solution.

[andystmartin]

Both are capable tools. Either one may fit your needs -- the choice would be yours.

As far as email goes, kmail and its set of features is quite attractive. However, it is sloppily implemented and at times slow and unstable.

There are plugins that can be added to Thunderbird to help with the calendar issue. I have used them to some extent. They work but are not very fancy.

I like the potential of kmail but about 2 or 3 times a year I abandon its flakiness for Thunderbird. Then, when I come to miss the searching, the compact message list display, keyboard shortcuts, and other features of kmail; I switch back to kmail. I guess it's a sort of love/hate relationship I have with kmail. Hopefully kmail will continue to improve in the stability and usability fronts.

[dmeyer]

While I truly like Kontact, thunderbird has it beat hands down in one critical area (for me). When you have to live in a mixed OS world (Windows and Linux), using thunderbird allows you to have the same email and calendar program (with the appropriate plugin) on both platforms. That way, regardless which platform or where I am at, those tasks are handled the same way. So, while it may not be a consideration for everyone, if you fall into such a situation, thunderbird warrants consideration, even if kmail/kontact is a better linux solution.

True. Definitely a valid point. By the way, the entire Kontact suite works on Windows. I just don't know anybody who has ever used it. It's a mission but it can be done. Still Thunderbird is a great cross platform email client.

Both are capable tools. Either one may fit your needs -- the choice would be yours.

As far as email goes, kmail and its set of features is quite attractive. However, it is sloppily implemented and at times slow and unstable.

There are plugins that can be added to Thunderbird to help with the calendar issue. I have used them to some extent. They work but are not very fancy.

I like the potential of kmail but about 2 or 3 times a year I abandon its flakiness for Thunderbird. Then, when I come to miss the searching, the compact message list display, keyboard shortcuts, and other features of kmail; I switch back to kmail. I guess it's a sort of love/hate relationship I have with kmail. Hopefully kmail will continue to improve in the stability and usability fronts.

Flaky? Hmm, I've yet to experience any flakiness. Granted, I only switched to Kmail in the 4.8.5 days and I know that before that it was a nightmare especially with the early migration to Akonadi. The slowness I have noticed but it disappeared when I switched to disconnected IMAP. Still, everybody's mileage varies and I don't even run Kubuntu anymore so I can't honestly say if your experience is unique.

My biggest thing is that the entire Kontact suite needs a bit of a face life! It looks a little dated. A nice pretty QML interface would be lovely.

Edit: If you notice me displaying some inconsistencies it because, I went through two Kontact phases, pre Akonadi and post Akonadi. I used Thunderbird for a while when Kmail was terrible.

[dmeyer]

I'm afraid Kmail is also a little flaky on my system, a few times per week it'll just crash and immediately recover.
Reporting the error brings up a lot of similar or duplicate issues.
The Akonadi integration is indeed a lot better than say 2 years ago.

Bad luck. Well, as is always recommended on these forums, use what works for you.