Disappointing for a Paid Subscription

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#1

I don’t know where best to add this on the forum…

I’ve actually left Mailspring and gone back to Thunderbird for now. I only worked with Mailspring for about 6 weeks or so. After about the third week, I was so impressed that I paid for a subscription - the only thing I could tell that I needed is that I would not hit limitations on mail snoozing.

Since then, I’ve encountered countless bugs - all of which are reported by myself and other users across this forum. It’s got to a point where the application is just too disruptive to work with in a business environment.

But given that I and I am sure plenty of other members have paid for this software, then I would have expected quicker responses and attention to problems. Some of which have gone several months with no support now.

Fair enough, the core developers/owners are working on this around their full time job etc but then they shouldn’t be charging for a paid version in my opinion. It is riddled with bugs. I’d strongly suggest trying to raise some funding to give this some attention - the email client has massive potential, it’s one of the best I’ve used when it’s working / you don’t touch anything in it causing it to break.

So I have a paid subscription for software that I don’t even use. I’ve seen others that have given this a go and jumped ship. You’ve got an almost fantastic product but already building a poor reputation - many lost customers won’t return for years if at all.

You could probably even reach out and extend the development contributors - I don’t know but clearly something needs to be done as there are replies on serious bug reports every day, the longer you leave it, the less users you’ll have.

Make of that what you will but it would be nice if the right people sat up and took notice for the benefit of Mailspring and your current userbase.

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#2

I agree, they should be at least keeping us up-to-date with the statuses of issues.

I wonder if they reply to this thread.

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#3

Well the most active contributor has essentially left now and the owner of the project @bengotow hasn’t even posted for over a month so I guess that tells us the story.

That’s a massive shame.

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#4

Yes it is a pity, I also paid for the subscription hoping the basic features like moving mails between folders of different accounts would be implemented soon, but I am back to Thunderbird too because of the same reasons Geoff mentioned.

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#5

Going back to Thunderbird is better? I don’t see it.

It would be great if there were more development done on Mailspring, but I’m pretty happy with it after several months. Now if only there were a way to work with Protonmail.

#6

There are countless problems with it. One is that it frequently crashes and becomes unresponsive.

There’s a ton of bugs reported on here that have gone a long time with no acknowledgement or action.

So when you’ve paid for software, you expect a better service than this. Fair enough if it is free but a lot of us upgraded to the paid subscription.

Thunderbird can be clunky but it works.

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#7

You are confusing software freedom with not paying for software. This is a common error.

People who can afford it should already be donating $$$ to “free as in freedom” software projects. Hardly anyone does, and that’s probably why free software development is so slow.

Mailspring is in a position to charge users a fee (you and I both paid it) only because, even though the Mailspring software itself is “free as in freedom,” Mailspring as an organization also provides a server-side service, a service that costs them money to provide. That service could be provided by anyone else who wanted to go to the trouble of setting up the service and start providing it to others. Such a person could provide all the features of the Mailspring program without charging anything, if they wanted, but then they’d be providing a server-side service for free.

Or at least that’s how I understand what’s going on.

All of us who can afford to do it should donate money to the free software projects that matter to us. I do not donate much money, and your message both reminds me that I should, and gives me some motivation to do it.

Please give money to the developers of the “free as in freedom” software you use! Future generations of free software users will benefit. I’m about to head over to some projects that have tip jars.

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#8

Agreed, I tried to switch from Mailbird but could not get any help getting my GoDaddy account recognized. After wasting days troubleshooting, I gave up and went back to Mailbird.

#9

@al92lt1 How is Mailbird these days? I was using Mailbird quite a few years ago now but eventually left that software as well due to severe performance issues. It never could handle (in my experience) multiple inboxes with thousands of emails. It too, looked promising at one point.

#10

absolutely agree, I had the same experience

#11

I’m sticking with Mailbird. Easy to set up, lots of customization, great support and easy to move to another computer.

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#12

Completely the same experience. You use it for a couple days and the UX and functionality is so promising, it’s easy to get fooled. Then the bugs come. I’ve hit everything from unread counts that won’t go away, to a mailbox that won’t refresh, to all out crashes. Each time the solution is something involved and complex, like rebuilding the index or deleting a set of files. Not really a production-level experience I can use day-to-day.

It’s sad, as it has so much potential. I hope it has a future.

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#13

The double panel vertical experience is terrible. It does not preview your newest email which is the entire POINT of double panel vertical layout!!!

#14

I appreciate your comments Geoff. You have saved me from making a big commitment.

Hmm, this software has potential. A paid subscription is a bit pricey. I tried the Windows version and Linux version on my desktops & laptops. I will also go back to Thunderbird and drop by in a year. Hopefully the bugs and some some navigation issues have been solved.

Keep up the good work.

-Les-

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#15

Es muy lamentable, pero esto no me sorprende, aunque me apena leer. Volví hace unos minutos a ver estatus de Mailspring y me encuentro con la misma estela de abandono o falta de interés real de @bengotow , más que leo que se fue el principal impulsor de la comunidad.

Creo que Ben debe estar reflexionando sobre vender o abrir el código total y absolutamente para que lo desarrollen otras personas.

Suerte en lo que decida

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#16

esbueno por aca ver hispanohablantes y si es lamentable lo que esta pasando

#17

It does work with Protonmail, but only if you use the bridge: ProtonMail IMAP/SMTP Bridge - Encrypted Email IMAP Support, which is only available to paid users. You can then connect via IMAP.

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#18

Windows only crap.Not available for real os’s

#19

I don’t think the developers are serious either, or whether it is being actively developed/supported.
Don’t let the attractive interface fool you. If the mail client has loads of unanswered support questions, then it is a liability.
Whatever the complaints you may have about Thunderbird, it’s ultimately more powerful, less laggy, and has a vibrant add-on developer community that gives you all the features of this and much more. There is a fork called BetterBird, which claims to have fixed all the ignored bugs of Thunderbird.
I won’t reply to this, as I have unsubscribed (or deserted a sinking ship) to put it in nautical terms. Mailspring is doomed!

#20

It’s sad. It’s so close to being really nice as it is. I thought I’d found my new email client. I still use it. But I guess I should look for something else.

Any suggestions? I really don’t like Thunderbird.
:frowning:

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