I've never had any issues with T-bird's performance on large folders.
I do sometimes have trouble with my IMAP server's performance, but part
of that is it's running on a Unix system and using the traditional Unix
"mbox" format for e-mail. I've converted some folders to mbx, and they
seem a little better. I've played a little bit with MIX format, but I'm
waiting for the MIX related tools to mature a bit more. (The other
option is Maildir, which would work better than mbox as well, but not as
well as MIX, so I'm waiting for MIX). But, anyway, since GMail is
running the mail server, you don't have to worry about the mailbox
format in your scenario.
I've never noticed any issues with T-birds performance. I only run into
problems when my IMAP server can't keep up with T-bird! T-bird
sometimes reports erroneous or misleading error messages when the IMAP
server can't keep up. Sometimes I get messages like "This server isn't
an IMAP server" from T-bird, which is confusing -- but, if I wait a
seconf for the IMAP server to catch up, it works fine.
One of the big advantages to IMAP mail servers is that the messages stay
on the server. That means you can connect with multiple e-mail clients,
and they should all see the same folders and the same messages.
We use that feature extensively where I work, since we provide Webmail
and Thunderbird access to the same accounts, and some users use Outlook
on their home computers as well. They all get the same messages in the
same folders, and they can switch between them at will with no bad effects.
Therefore, I suggest that you simply TRY using Thunderbird. It's free,
and if all else fails, you can close the program and re-open Outlook and
you're right back where you started. Nothing lost.
Mike wrote:
Okay you Thuderbird advocates, how does it perform with a large number of
IMAP items (like from Gmail) after a couple months on more than one account?
I have been using Outlook, but the performance is starting to go downhill. I
am guessing the number of cached items has something to do with that (and
apparently, you can't clear it).
midrange.com
