K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

Posted Jun 15, 2022 6:44 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android by roc
Parent article: K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

> "Never change the UI" is not viable in the long term

How many times have Mutt changed the UI? Or emacs? It absolutely can be a long-term strategy. Just don't break the users' workflow for no reason.

Heck, Chrome has not changed the UI a lot. Here's the release version from 2009: https://regmedia.co.uk/2009/11/19/chrom_os_panels.png and here's the current one: https://www.google.com/chrome/ Basically, the only difference are more streamlined icons and the braindead indistinct "material UI" colors.

Now look at FF in 2014: https://ffp4g1ylyit3jdyti1hqcvtb-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/press-uk/files/2014/11/Fx-ForgetMenu_en-US.jpg and now https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ - the degradation of the UI hits you like a brick.

K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

Posted Jun 15, 2022 10:02 UTC (Wed) by nye (subscriber, #51576) [Link]

Man I had actually forgotten just how much better FF used to look. It's past the point now where it's not just an aesthetic degradation but a serious usability problem. It's hard to imagine what these designers could possibly be thinking.

K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

Posted Jun 15, 2022 13:10 UTC (Wed) by chalst (guest, #159060) [Link] (1 responses)

How many full-time developers does Mutt, Inc employ?

How many projects do the FSF support, and how essential is FSF support to the success of Emacs?

Do you think that Mozilla Corp switching to the development model of Mutt or Emacs would advance the values of the Mozilla Foundation?

I'm inclined to think that neither Mutt nor Emacs are good examples for the case you were originally trying to make.

K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

Posted Jun 15, 2022 16:22 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

> How many full-time developers does Mutt, Inc employ?

You're telling me that developers can't work without ruining the UI?

Nope. The UI sabotage in FF is a deliberate decision, there was nothing inevitable in it.

And as a result they are falling behind on core features like HDR support, WebAuthn, JavaScript speed, etc.

K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

Posted Jun 16, 2022 17:54 UTC (Thu) by roc (subscriber, #30627) [Link] (1 responses)

Dunno about mutt, but emacs certainly isn't attracting new users.

K9 mail to become Thunderbird on Android

Posted Jun 16, 2022 22:57 UTC (Thu) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

Neither does FireFox. It's market share is constantly declining. It's pretty clear by now that endless redesigns are not helping AT ALL.

But at least vim and mutt seem to keep their existing users.