However, the volunteers' efforts also created a disjointed and inconsistent user experience for the email client, Castellani said.įrom 2017 to 2020, Mozilla oversaw Thunderbird through a subsidiary that has since used paid employees to steer the email client’s development. This led millions of active users and developers to contribute code to software.

However, a decade ago, Mozilla shifted its priorities away from the email client in favor of letting users maintain Thunderbird’s development. Thunderbird still technically runs under Firefox’s developer Mozilla Foundation. Google Roll Out Gmail Client-Side Encryption Beta for Some Workspace Users The overhaul will span three years and involve rewriting ancient code in the software while rebuilding the email client’s interface from scratch. Hence, the Thunderbird team is preparing a “massive rework from the ground up” to streamline the email client's underlying software.

“Then, once you reach that center piece, you replace it, and then add back the pieces you removed with slightly different pieces.” This means you have to slowly remove the blocks above it to keep the tower from collapsing,” he wrote. “If you replace just that piece, the whole tower will crumble. Tweet (Opens in a new window)Ĭastellani likened Thunderbird’s computer code to “an enormous Lego tower” built on top of a center piece in the wrong shape. “Simply ‘adding stuff on top’ of a crumbling architecture is not sustainable, and we can’t keep ignoring it,” Thunderbird Product Design Manager Alessandro Castellani wrote in a blog post (Opens in a new window). The overhaul aims to cut down on the “ technical debt” that the free, open-source email client has accumulated over the past decade from developers tweaking and programming new features. The nearly 20-year-old Thunderbird email client will undergo a major overhaul that promises to modernize the interface and make the software more reliable. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.

Thunderbird out of office