Remember a few months ago there was an apparent stampede of people, headed by Mark Pilgrim, who were abandoning Macs for Ubuntu? (Although some later came back.)
Java podcaster Tim Shadel is going the other way 
, dumping Ubuntu after using Linux for years and stretching his legs into Mac OS X.
Since Mail.app was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Mark Pilgrim, it’s extra interesting to read Tim’s experience with Mail, compared to Evolution, his Linux mail client:
Mail.app is great. Evolution almost works. I have to use exchange at work (I have Ubuntu installed there, too). Evolution has a module to integrate with Exchange, and it sorta thinks about working. It’s slow, and frequently it hangs. So much so that I got sick of typing
ps -ef | grep evolu | grep -v grep | awk ‘{ print $2 }’ | xargs kill
that I put it in a batch file shell script. I ran it no less than twice a day, sometimes more. Calendaring almost worked, except when it didn’t. Frequently I’d send out an appointment only to figure out that my colleagues version of the appointment didn’t repeat over the right interval. I don’t blame anyone for having trouble integrating with a Microsoft product. But at the end of the day, it was still annoyingly brittle. On Mac, there’s Entourage — an M$ product to work with the M$ server. As it is, Mail.app rocks for processing my personal email really efficiently. Oh, and it can export your mail to mbox. Duh. On Ubuntu, mail almost works.
He goes on to list many more ways in which Mac OS X simply provides a superior user experience—searching, wireless, GUI, audio effects, bluetooth and more.
In the end, it’s all about an OS that (wait for it…) “just works”:
My reasons for choosing to dump Ubuntu for a Mac are almost entirely about the experience. After years of Linux work, I’m tired of fiddling. I’m tired of things that almost work. I’m ready for a change. I’m sick of the war to get things to work. I’m ready to simply Get Things Done.
Mark Pilgrim came off as a pompous ass when he wrote his flamebaiting argument about why he left the mac. Instead of just saying that he prefers a more traditional unix type environment, he attacked Apple and the people who own them.
Woo hoo mail.app trumps. I’m jerking off now…
Set up a SUSE box last weekend. I began to configure email using Evolution since I was running gnome. I have a lot of email rules in Entourage that redirect email to other people. Strangely enough, I could not find an option to redirect or even to forward an email using a rule. Couldn’t beleive it. Loaded Thunderbird instead since you can at least forward an email using a rule.
It’s such a strange and obvious oversight that I almost believe I missed something. In fact, let me know if Evolution is actually capable of rule-based forwards or redirects.
“After years of Linux work, I’m tired of fiddling.”
This summed up my experience exactly. I spent 10 years futzing around with linux on the command line trying to get things to work. With the Mac I get the full Unix/X11 enviroment I need to be productive at work and home, and also the superior user interface and apps of the Mac.
I find it hard to believe people honestly switched to Ubuntu because of Mail.app sucking, I mean there are alternatives, for example you could probably install Evolution on the Mac if you really wanted to.
“After years of Linux work, I’m tired of fiddling.â€
I hear ya buddy!
Same for me, after 12 years of Linux “almost works” switching to Mac “It just works” was a breathe of fresh air…
I’d think that anyone who isn’t comfortable using killall or pkill would be much more comfortable with MacOSX than with linux.
I’m not taking a side in this endless debate (I use OSX and Mailsmith, which renders any opinion I’d have on the subject laughable), but this bit
isn’t true. Mail.app may indeed rock for Tim Shadel’s personal email processing, but it doens’t export to mbox. Mark Pilgram covered that already.
(short version, Mail.app doesn’t quote/munge the From line of an exported message properly. This creates a format that’s almost mbox, but not quite, and one that will be borked by all existing import scripts)
Also Mail.app only works with IMAP for Mail.app. Most corporate locations block this protocol due to being in clear text if not tunneled in SSL and only allow the direct Exchange protocol and OWA.
Entourage via OWA works, but could be WAY better.
I’ve tried to get evolution to work via OWA, but getting a big middle finger from evolution on authentication.
ever heard of “killall evolution”?