molly.com
Monday 2 August 2004
molly, dearest: mozilla, firefox, and thunderbird
MOLLY, DEAREST WAS a short-lived idea for a question/answer column that was going to get published right before the dot-bomb. I’ve been meaning to revive it ever since, so here goes. We’ll start with a reader question about Mozilla, Firefox, and Thunderbird.
Neil asks:
What exactly is the difference between FireFox and Mozilla? Does Mozilla simply include FireFox along with some other programs, or is it an entirely different browser? And will ThunderBird import all my email and settings from Outlook Express?
Molly dearest answers:
Firefox is a streamlined browser based on the Mozilla codebase. It’s just a browser, although you can extend it and customize it.
Mozilla is a complete toolkit that includes a browser, mail client, news client, chat client and numerous developer tools.
You can import your emails and addressbooks from Outlook and Outlook Express to Thunderbird. You can find general info on the Thunderbird FAQ page.
Here are two visual tutorials to help:
- Importing Outlook Express Emails and Addressbooks into Thunderbird
- Importing Outlook Emails and Addressbooks into Thunderbird
Anyone with additional insights, experiences, and references, shout it out!
Filed under: molly dearest
Posted by: Molly | 11:42 | Comments (8)
When I installed Thunderbird (.5 i think), I started using it as my main client. When .6 was released, I decided to copy my contacts from Outlook to it. Was a bit tricky. You have to set Outlook to be your default mail client, but you have to set it in Internet Explorer, not in Outlook.
Once I figured that out, it was a piece of cake.
Oh, and you may have to do some maneuvering with the field names to make sure the ones in Tbird match up to the ones in Outlook.
Thunderbird imports all my Outlook mail without errors, but blithely ignores any attachments. Which is somewhat problematic.
I recently moved my SO from Outlook Express 5.5 to the latest rev of Thunderbird. Worked like a charm on her machine (Win98) — including attachments AFAIK. Outside of a few different UI conventions (separate sets of folders for each mail account, for example) she’s loving it.
Will Mozilla stomp on the little Firefox?
.sqeeze{margin:0 -4px;}Firefox is nearly here, or rather, very nearly, and we promise hand on heart, finished. It’s still a ‘Technology Preview’ and has been forever is seems. I can’t wait
You know, it’s slightly disturbing to see my question answered on the front page – especially since that wasn’t exactly what I was going for! Meh.
Oh well, you answered my questions – and for that I’m grateful. Now, if only I could get Firefox to not drag on my system…
Hey Molly-
How Od are you? You ask us that question and I was just wondering!