Described as “an email client that combines Mozilla’s Thunderbird with code, features, and GUI elements from Qualcomm’s Eudora”, Eudora OSE is the end result of Qualcomm’s decision in October 2006 (Remember that?) to get out of the email market and to open source the code for its email client, once the most popular email app on the Mac platform.

Firing it up for a quick look-see is very nostalgic. First the freestanding mailbox pane appears, and then that unforgettable “bob-bob-a-bob-a-bob” sound of new mail arriving.

Old hands might still cherish a secret flame for Eudora, and find this release an interesting thing to play around with.

It’s not the old Eudora, that’s for sure; feels more like a skinned version of Thunderbird to me.Similar Posts:

• Eudora goes open-source
• More on the future of open source Eudora
• Switching from Eudora for Windows to Mail.app
• Eudora Mailbox Cleaner 4.7.1
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Hawk Wings has covered Emailchemy before.

It can convert emails and mailboxes from an astonishing number of email clients (AOL for Windows, Claris Emailer, CompuServe Classic for Macintosh, CompuServe 2000 for Windows, Entourage (Database, .rge Archives and cache files), Eudora, Mail.app, Mozilla, Mulberry, Musashi, Neoplanet, Netscape, Opera, Outlook for Windows, Outlook Express for Macintosh, Windows and UNIX/Solaris, PowerTalk/AOCE for Macintosh, QuickMail Pro for Macintosh and Windows, Thunderbird, Yahoo! Mail and any other UNIX-style or mbox-format mailbox—whew!) into “mbox” format, mail spool, or “UNIX-style” mailboxes, folders of individual email files (.txt or .eml files), comma-separated value files (.csv files), IMAPdir (Binc IMAP maildir) or Maildir++ (Courier IMAP maildir) format, or IMAP formats usable by Outlook, Outlook Express, Entourage, Mail.app, and Thunderbird.

Matt recounts how he moved from his beginnings in mail on UNIX (in 1990, when I was still fooling around on a PC with Waffle, Fidonet and UUCP email) through a dizzying sequence of email clients mandated by “corporate policy” at work and the march of software progress at home:

I went from using Eudora at work to using Apple’s PowerTalk, and from that to using WordPerfect Office (aka Groupwise), Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, and finally Microsoft Outlook. Then, to further complicate matters, I went from using Eudora at home to using Apple’s PowerTalk, Claris Emailer, and Netscape Mail, back to Eudora again, and then finally Apple’s Mail.app that came with Mac OS X.

It’s all very nostalgic! No wonder he ended up with “years of archived email saved in files created by several different applications that no other application could read.”

That’s enough to convert anyone into an ardent disciple of open formats.

If you are in the same bind, Emailchemy (shareware — USD 29.50) may well be the tool for you. email, mbox, old emails, emailchemy, mail.app, apple mail. thinderbird, eudora, claris emailer, entourage, convertor, unix, the good old daysSimilar Posts:

• Emailchemy: Converting or Recovering old emails
• Emailchemy 1.7.2: Amazing mailbox converter adds yet another format
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Jon Crosby announced the shift to a free, open source future for Actiontastic in a post on his blog a few days ago:

Opening up this project for community participation is the best possible thing that I can think of doing for its future. Great things are on the horizon for that sweet intersection of the web and the desktop. I would rather discuss them openly and collaborate with other like-minded people than hide any of the details just to make another $29 shareware sale.

Three weeks earlier, he explained how to integrate MailTags with Actiontastic via iCal with Actiontastic’s @inbox calendar. Nifty.

Is the move to open source a good thing? It’s the usual trade-off between free software offering the user community a chance to contribute on the one hand and, on the other, a possible loss of focus and forward movement.

The announcement of Eudora’s move to open source last year made some people nervous about its future for similar reasons.

Hopefully, both apps will continue to thrive.GTD, getting things done, mailtags, mail.app, apple mail, ical, open source, eudora, productivitySimilar Posts:

• Actiontastic 0.9 gets iCal sync support
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At the click of an applescript it will process your Junk mailbox, determine the sending domain of all the junk mails inside it and report them to the abuse contact of that domain.

A new version (1.0.5), released a few days ago, includes scripts to automate the reporting for Mail.app, Entourage, Mailsmith, Eudora, and Powermail.

You can see a helpful screencast of how it works on the developer’s web site .

No doubt it’s clever; the real question is, is it smart?

Debate continues. Despite some miracle stories on the results of bouncing spam emails, there are some reasons why bouncing (or automated spam reporting) may not be a good idea.

You can read them in previous Hawk Wings post on “To bounce or not to bounce?” here and here.

Apple’s own technote on tries to distinguish between spam worth bouncing (or reporting) and spam that is not.

SidewinderX is sharware (USD 19.95) and is available from the developer’s web site .mail.app, apple mail, applescript, spam, junk, entourage, mailsmith, eudora, powermail, reportingSimilar Posts:

• To bounce or not to bounce; that is the question (again)
• To bounce or not to bounce; that is the question
• iCal email notifications with other clients
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The more fully-featured Email Backup Pro (shareware, USD 9.95) has improved restore functions, including the ability to restore backups made with the freeware version.

Also, you can now launch a restore by clicking on the backup file in Finder.

It now also supports GyazMail .

The freeware version (1.1.2) now quits the email client first in order to produce a more reliable backup.

You can read more about these simple backup utilities on the developer’s web pages for Email Backup and Email Backup Pro .mail.app, apple mail, email, thunderbird, entourage, eudora, gyazmail, backupSimilar Posts:

• Email Backup Pro: Simple email backup and restore
• Email Backup Pro 1.1: Multiple client support
• Email Backup 1.1 adds Thunderbird, Eudora support
• iCal email notifications with other clients
• A dedicated, easy-to-use backup app for Apple Mail and Entourage

Its simple interface and “set-and-forget” features make it hard for a user to claim that creating a regular backup is too much hassle. (See an earlier, more extensive Hawk Wings review.)

There is only one new feature in the 1.1 release, but it’s a good one—support for multiple email clients:

Email Backup Pro costs USD 9.95 and a demo version (with scheduling disabled) is available from the developer’s web site .email, backup, restore, apple mail, mail.app, eudora, thunderbird, entourageSimilar Posts:

• Email Backup 1.1 adds Thunderbird, Eudora support
• Email Backup Pro: Simple email backup and restore
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• Eudora Mailbox Cleaner updated
• Eudora goes open-source

Two long-time Eudora users — Adam Engst (TidBITs) and Jason Snell (MacWorld editor) — talk about what they would like to see in the new version and make a few points on the need for innovation in email programs in general. Eudora users are also encouraged to get involved in the development of the new creation.

The new Eudora will be called Penelope (presumably after the woman (Wikipedia ) who waited for years and years with increasing impatience for her husband Odysseus to come home whilst she fended off a swarm of suitors with various deceits).

It will be a long wait for Eudora users too. Only after two intermediate steps do developers expect to release Penelope 1.0. And only then,

once we finish version 1.0, we will divide our attention between bringing over some of the more obscure Eudora features and customizations, and doing new work.

eudora, thunderbird, open source, mail client, email, penelope, last roll of the diceSimilar Posts:

• Eudora goes open-source
• Eudora lives! First OSE release candidate is out
• Podcast: MacNotables email client shoot-out
• Actiontastic gets MailTags integration, goes Open Source
• Switching from Eudora for Windows to Mail.app

The answer is easy (especially as Andreas Amann, the developer of Eudora Mailbox Cleaner has already written out the answer):

1. Copy your Windows Eudora data folder onto a USB stick or something similar so that you can move it to your Mac.
2. [UPDATE: It emerges that there is an imtermediate step in here, too complicated to make into a bullet point but not complicated enough to make the process difficult. Details in EMC's readme file - Thanks, Dave].
3. Drop the complete Eudora data folder onto Eudora Mailbox Cleaner and wait for the conversion to finish.

Eudora Mailbox Cleaner also offers easy transitions from Thunderbird (Mac, Windows or Linux):

It’s freeware (donations from grateful users not turned away) and available from Andreas’ web site .

[Thanks, Andreas :)]mail.app, apple mail, eudora, switching, conversion, mailboxes, email, thunderbirdSimilar Posts:

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The company is in discussion with the Mozilla Foundation, hoping to base future Windows and Mac versions of Eudora on Thunderbird’s code. It expects that the open-source Eudora will be available sometime in the first half of 2007.

Eudora was once one of the most popular Mac email clients. Back when I was using Pegasus Mail on a 286, many Macheads were enjoying the power and flexibility of Eudora.

According to MacWorld, the original developer of Eudora Steve Dorner is pleased with the development:

Using the Mozilla Thunderbird technology platform as a basis for future versions of Eudora will provide some key infrastructure that the existing versions lacked, such as a cross-platform code base and a world-class display engine. Making it open source will bring more developers to bear on Eudora than ever before.

In the meantime Qualcomm is pushing the last commercial release of Eudora 6.2.4 for Mac out the door at the reduced price of USD 19.95 including six months of support.

[Via MacWorld after a tip-off from Bronson. Thanks!] eudora, email in general, thunderbird, open source, qualcommSimilar Posts:

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• Quickies

It offers a simple schedule for the complete backup of messages and settings in Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Eudora and MS Entourage X and 2004. The shareware version adds a restore option and comes with an optional add-on to manage backups on external harddrives.

The interface clearly presents options for the location and timing of the backups and the number of backup to save:

If you want to save your backups to an external drive that is not always connected, an additional freeware app Email Backup On Mount is provided.

It watches for the mounting on the remote drive and prompts you to do a backup when it is connected. It also offers menubar access to Email Backup Pro’s main features.

The backups are compressed as zip files with the date of the backup and the extension .ebp, which helps with subsequent identification and saves space.

Restoring the backup is as easy as selecting “Restore” from the app’s Tools menu.

Email Backup Pro costs USD 9.95 and a demo version (with scheduling disabled) is available from the developer’s web site .

Documentation is not included in the download, but is available separately.email, backup, restore, apple mail, mail.app, eudora, thunderbird, entourageSimilar Posts:

• Email Backup and Backup Pro updates: GyazMail, better restore
• Email Backup Pro 1.1: Multiple client support
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• A dedicated, easy-to-use backup app for Apple Mail and Entourage