Thunderbird 3 Doesn’t Include Lightning. Current Lightning Version Not Even Compatible. Seriously?
by SAB on Dec.08, 2009, under Technology
When I heard Mozilla was releasing Thunderbird 3 today I was delighted! I quickly rushed to download it and try it out. I always liked Thunderbird – it’s fast, it’s easy to use, it’s mod-able with an ever-growing database of plug-ins, and… it’s free!
However, it’s not pretty and it is clunky in many areas. Lightning is also clunky, but it’s great with Google Calendar, so I like it. I don’t currently use it, however. This is because of the sloppy look and the complete inability to use a normal, 12 hour calendar to input events, that is, I want to input events the way I do in Outlook where I can type in the date, and then set AM/PM. Thunderbird makes you use a clunky, ugly 24 hour interface.
None of these problems are present in the latest release of Thunderbird. That’s because they chose to not even include Lightning, or any calendar application. Lightening isn’t even compatible with Thunderbird 3. Disappointing.
Picky? You bet. But when comparing Thunderbird to Outlook, one of the best schedule and email programs available, this program really needs to shape up. I’m absolutely perplexed that Mozilla would release Thunderbird when it’s not really finished. I’ll try this again when Lightening is updated to work with Thunderbird 3 – until then it’s recycle bin time.
December 9th, 2009 on 5:04 AM
Lightning is maintained by a different group, I don’t think the Thunderbird devs can control it. Would you rather they postponed the release of their software until a plugin developer was where they felt they should be?
Anyway, it looks like lightning is almost there and the beta worked for me, found a link here: http://wonderpudding.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
December 9th, 2009 on 11:48 AM
It does sound a little crazy for them to postpone due to a plug-in, but it’s such an important plug-in! I feel like they really need to combine the two projects and make them more integrated – thanks for the link I’ll try that out
December 11th, 2009 on 5:32 PM
Using Firefox 3.5.5 no fixes yet 12/11 for TB & Lightning. What a doozy! Remember satellite to mars, feet & meters? Here is one right on earth.