The last Github commit was on 3 May, which is more than three months ago now and there are multiple open PRs that have not been merged since then. The last piece of news from the dev team was CodeMouse92 stepping down.
There are still multiple bugs to be patched and missing features to be implemented, and I was wondering if these issues are going to be worked on. I really like the look and feel of the application and would love to continue using it, but if the project is really dead then maybe the community should start looking for alternatives or looking into starting forks of the project.
I’m no replacement for Ben, I know, but I have to say something. People started making these same unfounded rumors before, and frankly, they were malignant. So let me nip this in the bud. NO, MAILSPRING IS NOT DEAD. NEVER HAS BEEN.
Ben has a full time job. He does this on the side, just like all the other volunteers. It’s volunteer effort that moves it forward, and a lack of volunteer effort that stalls it out. There’s no big organization around this — Foundry376 simply contributes the framework for the business aspects, namely the Mailspring Pro accounts that just barely cover the certification expenses and the server and API costs of the Pro features.
I wish I had time to contribute, but I have a full-time job now that demands most of my attention, and plenty of other irons in the fire to take up the rest of my time. All it would take for Mailspring to move forward is for someone to do what I did last winter: step up and start helping.
P.S. Three months is nowhere near “abandoned” in FOSS. You need to adjust your expectations. We’re dealing with a side project here.
Well, I understand the problem with the contribution to open source vs day jobs, and I’m grateful for contributors’ efforts to keep OS projects alive.
But the problem with Mailspring is that it is selling subscriptions, and - alongside many people - I bought one hoping to get sth more than Thunderbirds 11-year old issues.
Are there plans to take Mailspring further, beyond just a side hussle?
@Mailspring team - make a decision, are you backing this project with a commercial effort, or are you going purely OS/side hussle. there is no such thing as a commercial side-project of this sort.
edit: I am paying, and willing to pay, and I believe many people are as well, just keep this project commercial-grade sheesh! you’re in a “shut up and take my money” situation and you’re letting it go!
Hi!
I’m just a (happy) user of mailspring who wanted to give my perspective about this, informed from some of the things I have read from the mailspring team in this forum. The following seems to not be stressed enough: they claim that the money from mailspring pro goes towards covering the mailspring pro features (server, etc) only, and seems that none of the money goes towards paying developers to work on software development. I see two attitudes to take about this: to believe it or to not believe it.
If you do, you should understand that the fact that users pay for pro accounts has nothing to do with the timeline to solve software bugs or improve the project (as long as those bugs are not in the pro features). As long as the pro features work, you are paying for a working service.
If you don’t believe it, you should probably not use a pro account.
I think you guys should consider a Crowd funding campaign. Try raise enough money for 1 year of development for 3 people, and in return give the contributors Mailspring Pro access for life. Set a contribution amount that work for everyone involved.
I believe this can be one of the Best Email clients for all platforms!
Though I do not think this should take the place of paid subscriptions as the subscription is for the pro features.
But a crowd fund campaign for the core features that could tale this from a one-man-band side-hustle to a dedicated developer situation would be ideal.
I have a premium subscription and I would happily contribute to a crowd fun campaign in addition to this.
Also, if it is true that subscriptions just cover the cost of providing the pro features, raise the subscription price! Make mailspring a profitable commercial project. That’s the only way it can survive.
Antes lo he dicho. Ben debiera vender Mailspring o bien definirlo como un proyecto con contribuciones, porque no puede ser viable ni presentable decir que tienes un cliente de correo Pro y no se considerado como cliente.
Una cosa no me queda clara. ÂżLos usuarios Pro no tienen fallas y los no Pro tienen fallas?
Como comentario final: Mailspring es muy buen proyecto de cliente de correo, pero, con respeto y aprecio a Ben y colaboradores, no se ve un liderazgo y objetivo claro, lo que no es una crĂtica, sino que una invitaciĂłn a que quien lo ejerce lo revise, reflexione y reconduzca, comunicando en unas pocas palabras a una comunidad que permanece pendiente por años.
Normally, I wouldn’t add to things like this, but I absolutely love Mailspring. I believe in the product and am totally willing to pay for the pro features. The issues I have haven’t been resolved, nothing has been addressed and that makes me incredibly hesitant about paying for the pro features.
I agree with others that you really should look at crowd sourcing yourself for a year’s worth of updates and work and focus on this. I completely understand that this is a side-project, but you are offering people a subscription and failing to deliver on that.
So, please, make a decision and at the very least post an update about what is going on? From what I can see, this looks dead in the water, because no one has even posted anything from Mailspring since last year. Granted, that may only be 3 months, but the very least you could do is update the community to let us know what’s going on, what your plans are, and if you’re not going to make an effort to update, then the least you could do is warn people so they don’t pay for pro features and get a pile of junk.
I would be more than happy to donate to the Mailspring team IF we could get assurances that you’re actually addressing the issues and working to make this better. Please, just do something to let us know you’re even alive!
It is with sadness that I say: goodbye Mailspring.
After a year of pro I can say: I love the app, I love the service. I don’t love the lack of development and the lack of bug fixes. I don’t love that this is a side project.
Mailspring you are a lovely idea, but I need something I can depend on.
Mailspring is indeed a lovely idea. People are willing to pay for the Crowdfunding campaign. So, why @CodeMouse92 are not considering launching it? I think it can provide you all resources you need to offer a much better service.
I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve come back here after a year since MailSpring is such a good mail app in so many respects. But the same issues remain: Cannot create or send to groups; there is no ability to adjust the preview lines (after changing themes, it default to no lines, no subject); and there is no hotkey to move a message to a folder.
I’ve read in other threads the idea of this being crowdfunded to support the developer. I’d pitch in. But until these basic features (sending to groups for sure!) are working, I won’t fork out for the Pro features. So far, only Spark and Airmail send to groups (along with OSX Mail, of course). As has been pointed out by others, if this is subscription-based, then we ought to have the reassurance that this is going to be a supported product with bug fixes along the way or, at the very last, some sort of pulse on the forums.
I fully agree. I’ve paid for the Pro version, and I already really appreciate the notifications for opened messages and link tracking. However, at the same time, I’m disappointed with some features not working as expected. For that reason, I checked the GitHub repository for any activity. There is activity, but nothing indicates really active development or bug fixing.
I sponsor other open-source projects where I see the developer or group of developers actively working on the project, and where I have direct conversations with them about issues and suggestions. In some cases, developers work on it full-time, as they can live off the sponsorship money.
As I am a developer myself, I’m tempted to fork my own version and dive into MailSpring to address the issues myself. I like the product, but it lacks the final touch. However, then I would be doing the work I’m already paying someone else to do… Speaking of paying, I’m curious about how the link tracking and message opened tracking functions. Do they have a service running for it somewhere, or are they using an external service? Is that what we’re actually paying for? Well, reasons enough to dive into the source code. If only I had the time for it… Oh well, retirement is coming in a year…
