Making Book On Firefox

DTP: What about Thunderbird distinguishes it from other email products?

MK: Thunderbird has a few really great features that can help keep you safe. JavaScript is not enabled by default, so that will help protect you from irreparable damage to files (and, most importantly, mail) that is stored on your computer. Thunderbird also has a remote image blocking feature that allows you to control remote content that it embedded in mail messages. With Thunderbird, you have a great deal of control over your mail in many ways. Thunderbird also has a very powerful junk mail filtering system that can help you keep your inbox spam free. Finally, there are a number of extensions that you can install in Thunderbird that can extend its capabilities even further.

DTP: Thunderbird hasn't caught on the way that Firefox has. Why do you think that is? Do you have any suggestions that might make it more usable and/or popular?

MK: Browsers are inherently easier to set up than an email client. It takes more work to set up an email client, and users out there might be reticent to do so if they are comfortable with their current client. Users also might be afraid that they might not be able to keep their filters and other mail settings

Thunderbird has a few things in the works that will definitely make it more usable and popular. While we don't currently have an integrated calendar, there are plans to add one. The Thunderbird address book and the Mac version of Thunderbird are areas that need improvement, and these are things that are being worked on for the 1.1 release.

DTP: What do you see as the future of these two applications? Do you feel that these two applications have brought open source more to public attention, or do people just see them as neat applications?

MK: I think Firefox and Thunderbird have generated interest for open source, and we included more about this in the book so people could really understand the open source process. I also happen to think both applications are neat, too, but I don't think that is why people use them. I think people use them because they are the right application for their needs, and Firefox and Thunderbird contain the features that are important to them when they are surfing the web or communicating via email.

JH: While most people likely think of Firefox and Thunderbird as neat applications—they are!—they have also brought open source to the public's attention. The spin on open source software in the past has been that it's offbeat, specialized, "geeky," unsafe, or buggy. Firefox and Thunderbird are examples that open source software is mainstream, general purpose, accessible, secure, and solid.