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Author Topic: Email Accounts, the REAL test  (Read 12245 times)

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Zylstra

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Email Accounts, the REAL test
« on: June 21, 2007, 12:11:29 AM »
I was discussing with my cousin earlier today about email.
He has Yahoo, I have Hotmail. He wants to switch to Gmail.

I am going to do the following:
Make up email addresses with the initials S B
The gender Male
The age 26

and the address will be supafly40@

And the initial test happens here, I post the addresses in plain text
--Moderators, these are disposable addresses and intended for testing. Please do not remove--
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

and now we wait
« Last Edit: June 23, 2007, 09:04:54 PM by Zylstra »

Zylstra

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2007, 12:25:21 AM »
At a glance:
I have used Hotmail and Gmail before. I was not at all impressed with Gmail.
Gmail is somewhat dynamic, but hardly. There are no drag/drop capabilities, and the folders dont really function all that well.

Hotmail and Yahoo seem to match up when it comes to how dynamic they are (very web2.0 compliant)
Opening the text of an email is certainly faster in Yahoo, but it takes just as long for the images to load as they did in Hotmail.
Yahoo takes up a smaller area of the screen (1024x768) and has wasted space.
It does seem fact that either my little "Check email" button wasnt working, or the Yahoo servers are slow at receiving emails.

Yahoo mail does have a RSS feed reader/handler, but Gmail and Hotmail do not have these built into the email clients access.

Yahoo does seem to have a slower initial load time compared to Hotmail, and it keeps giving me these little annoying popup overlays (it reminds me of those annoying ads that scroll across your screen)

When I log into my email, I want it to come up ASAP, no little notices or ads or notications of future versions. In this area, Hotmail and Gmail beat Yahoo.
(GAH! I click "Continue" and MORE popup things appear!)

It seems that both Gmail and Yahoo have a built in chat feature. (Kind of neat)

WillyW



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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2007, 09:09:57 AM »
...
When I log into my email, I want it to come up ASAP, no little notices or ads or notications of future versions.


Considered using Thunderbird on Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail?

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soybean



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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2007, 11:15:51 AM »
I haven't used Hotmail or Gmail.  So, I can't compare them with Yahoo Mail, and, even though I have a Yahoo Mail account, I've used it very little since my mail account is with my ISP, Earthlink, and that's what I normally use.  With Earthlink, I normally download my mail to Outlook Express.  However, I also logon to Earthlink's WebMail almost daily, where I can also check my mail. 

Anyway, a couple of your comments about Yahoo seemed to contradict my observations, based on my limited use of Yahoo Mail.   
Quote
Yahoo takes up a smaller area of the screen (1024x768) and has wasted space.
I normally use 1024x768 resolution but increased it to 1152x864 to do a test.  Based on that, I don't follow your comment on the resolution.

Quote
Yahoo does seem to have a slower initial load time compared to Hotmail ....
Seems fine to me.  It's basically the same responsiveness as being on the web and viewing web pages in general.

Quote
... it keeps giving me these little annoying popup overlays (it reminds me of those annoying ads that scroll across your screen)
Exactly what screen are you talking about?  I don't see popups when I'm viewing messages in Inbox.  From what I've seen, popups may appear on the main Mail screen, the screen shown here: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/farmpond/forums/Yahoo1.jpg.  But, they won't appear when the Inbox or other mail folders have been opened. 

Quote
It does seem fact that either my little "Check email" button wasnt working, or the Yahoo servers are slow at receiving emails.
I just did a test.  I forwarded an HTML email newsletter from my Earthlink account via Outlook Express to my Yahoo Mail account.  I then immediately logged onto Yahoo and the message was there.  I then sent another HTML email newsletter.  It then refreshed my Yahoo Inbox window within about 2 seconds and the message was there.

So, Yahoo Mail looks good to me.  But, again, I haven't compared it to Hotmail and Gmail.  I see that a new beta version of Yahoo Mail is available.  A preview of it can be seen by logging on to your Yahoo Mail account and following the link for Switch to the new Yahoo! Mail. 
« Last Edit: June 21, 2007, 01:20:40 PM by soybean »

Zylstra

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2007, 01:11:08 PM »
I should probably mention, I am using the Beta version of Yahoo Mail
Also, the FireFox web browser

I guess the pop-up things were for new users, but they were overlays

The Beta version is probably what affected the screen sizes. I decided to use the Beta version since its the newest technology from their mail department.

It took a few minutes for the email to get to the box, but it did make it

Found one of the pop-ups!


...
When I log into my email, I want it to come up ASAP, no little notices or ads or notications of future versions.

Considered using Thunderbird on Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail?
Without some difficult to use addons, its kind of hard to do that (I say this from personal experience)



WillyW



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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2007, 10:45:53 AM »
Quote
Considered using Thunderbird on Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail?
Without some difficult to use addons, its kind of hard to do that (I say this from personal experience)



Sorry to hear that.    My experience with them has been just the opposite.

It has been a while since I installed the Webmail extension, and the Hotmail and Yahoo extensions.      I don't recall any major problems though.

Using them daily (until recently - more on that in a moment)  has been equally as simple as simple as using a regular pop email account.   
Click on "Get Mail",  enter password,  watch the mail download. 

Just recently, the Yahoo extension has not allowed mail to send.  Still recieves fine.    The problem is that I'm still using T-Bird 1.5 - it is still supported for a few more months.    2.0 is out now.
Yahoo changed something on their end.
The author of the extension is now supporting only the extension for Webmail for T-Bird 2.0.
There is a work-around that I haven't finished experimenting with yet.
Obviously,  :)    I'm not too worried about that Yahoo account.

Or,  I could go ahead and upgrade to T-Bird 2.0 now.

Prior to this,  I had zero problems with the Webmail extension, the Hotmail extension, and the Yahoo extension.      Use them daily.       I consider the present thing with Yahoo to be minor, now that I know what the deal is.


How long ago did you experience the extensions as being difficult to use?
Perhaps they've made changes now.



p.s.  Gmail requires no extension
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Calum

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2007, 11:00:46 AM »
Quote
Or,  I could go ahead and upgrade to T-Bird 2.0 now.
Can I ask why you haven't already done so?
I've been using it since it was released, and have noticed no issues at all.

patio

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2007, 11:13:10 AM »
TBird + GMail = no problems at all....

Yahoo requires a plugin.

Hotmail can be skewered into doing it properly but why waste the effort ?
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

WillyW



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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2007, 11:37:22 AM »
Quote
Or,  I could go ahead and upgrade to T-Bird 2.0 now.
Can I ask why you haven't already done so?
I've been using it since it was released, and have noticed no issues at all.

I can't remember the details off the top of my head.    Read something, over in the mozillazine forums, I think.    Some minor quirks that I didn't care for.
That,  and the old custom of waiting a while, after a new release of anything comes out.   Let them get the kinks worked out.

Have you heard anything about any issues when using v2.0 on older Pentium machines and with Win98?
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WillyW



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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2007, 11:38:55 AM »
TBird + GMail = no problems at all....

Yahoo requires a plugin.

Hotmail can be skewered into doing it properly but why waste the effort ?

Hotmail uses an extension,  just as Yahoo does.      Effort is the same.   Very little.   


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patio

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2007, 01:56:31 PM »
I have zero issues with ThunderBird.
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

Zylstra

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2007, 09:00:40 PM »
The major problem I have with the Thunderbird Extension for Hotmail is that it does not organize into HTTP folders, which causes a major problem for me, since I use my computer in various locations, and I archive everything on the server :(
I just dont like only having a "Inbox" connected to the server, I like having all my other folders

(Unless I just got a goofy installation and it will retrive the individual folders)

Zylstra

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2007, 09:09:36 PM »
I will declair the test somewhat unfair, I made a bit of a typo in the Hotmail address

Junk count:
Hotmail - 0*
Gmail - 0
Yahoo - 2
(*A variable may have yielded different test results)

Since the Yahoo address and Gmail received different amounts of spam, it suggests a possibility that Yahoo uses the Junk folder for sucky advertisements....
We will find out, but there is no way to tell if it was a bot or a sold address.
(At least it was in the spam folder)

Email count will not be a total, it will only be what is in the box when it is checked

patio

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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2007, 08:47:14 AM »
The major problem I have with the Thunderbird Extension for Hotmail is that it does not organize into HTTP folders, which causes a major problem for me, since I use my computer in various locations, and I archive everything on the server :(
I just dont like only having a "Inbox" connected to the server, I like having all my other folders

(Unless I just got a goofy installation and it will retrive the individual folders)

Sounds like you need portable Thunderbird and Firefox...

Here Ya Go...
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

WillyW



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Re: Email Accounts, the REAL test
« Reply #14 on: June 24, 2007, 08:57:04 AM »
The major problem I have with the Thunderbird Extension for Hotmail is that it does not organize into HTTP folders, which causes a major problem for me, since I use my computer in various locations, and I archive everything on the server :(
I just dont like only having a "Inbox" connected to the server, I like having all my other folders

(Unless I just got a goofy installation and it will retrive the individual folders)

I think I'm understanding you - need to be sure.
You access your hotmail email account via the web interface from more than one computer.
You have several folders in your hotmail account.
Either manually or via some filters,  you sort your mail -  moving it out of the main inbox into these other folders.
When you tried out the Hotmail extension with T-Bird,  you didn't like it because it only picked up whatever mail was in the main inbox.
Did I understand?


For what it is worth:
I saw withing the Options of the Hotmail extension what appeared to be a way to configure to pick up mail from other folders.   
Having never used it myself,  I couldn't comment on it.
So I did a quick experiment for you.

Used hotmail via the web to create three folders.
Sent myself three emails.
Using web,  moved one to each new folder.
Went to Options within Hotmail extension,  and added the three new folders.
Used T-Bird.  "Get Mail".         Presto!   it picked up the three new emails from those three folders.    :)
Note:   The three emails did land in the Inbox for that hotmail account within T-Bird.    I suppose that if I wanted to create the three corresponding folders within T-Bird and have T-Bird sort them upon receiving,  I'd have to fiddle around with T-Bird's filters.    I didn't go that far.   


I'm not trying to 'sell' you on T-Bird, extensions, etc. either.     This is just in the spirit of a forum -   share info, it might be beneficial. 
I hope it is.      :)
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