Fastmail's Rivals...
 

I spent some time today working with Tuffmail. (I hate to say it but I feel as if my business is outgrowing Fastmail.) - Needed - SMTP level BCC, as well as calendaring and sync-able addressbook.

I was very disappointed with Tuffmail. There is a lot of technical prowess there, however the user experience is lacking. Using Horde, I could not for the life of me get it to allow me to create a sub folder off the inbox. Also, everything seems to be written for linux programmers, as it all uses technical language which is beyond me, and I am in the software industry.

I would be able to use the email service, I think, however teaching my wife who works with me? Forget it.

My feeling is that it is a GREAT email service for very technical people, but for mainstream, it has a long way to go.

I've been known to say Horde is horrid :P

But unable to make folders where you want? I think that's unfamiliarity. Because I found it was makin' folders everywhere, and it was actually makin' duplicates of folders and not purging them (Horde on my web hosting account, not at Tuffmail).

Long term, the BCC @ the SMTP is something I think business must have for legal defense otherwise these web-mails are only for hobby/personal use.

I finally figured it out.

Starting this month, BCC is a make or break issue, and Calendar is close behind. I sent an email to Fastmail and was told to switch to Thunderbird. Hmmm.

Can't switch from Outlook for my business.

Tried the RoundCube webmail client and it seems worse than Horde.

Squirrel mail hurts my eyes to think of even using it.

I do NOT want to leave Fastmail, but I have been requesting the features I need, but development of key features has been too slow.

I am not leaving till the end of the year though... we'll see.

Re: Fastmail's Rivals...
 

Good. Hope that puts then off putting up their prices again.;)

the BCC thing is something I can half-implement with Fastmail. I can force all incoming mail to come into Fastmail by using my own domain. The outgoing mail can be sent through a process which uses only "my" SMTP. But what I can't assure a in a legal sense is that the outgoing mail from a FM account ONLY came into that account from my domain or ONLY went out thru that SMTP server. It's the beautiful flexibility of FM that makes it so broken when I need it for business.

Have a look at bluehome.net. Very reliable. Excellent support. Customizable. BCC. Calendar. Nutsmail interface for Squirrelmail (preview at nutsmail.com). ClamAV. SpamAssassin. Etc.

I am sorry, but I totally did not follow your post.

I assume you meant mine?

Yes, someone posted as I was replying, so I edited mine and added the quote. ;)

Well, you said you want SMTP level BCC and I agree. You may want it for your own reasons but for me it is important to have something that leaves a trail of sent messages. A trail which you can use in court that says "this is every message the person sent from this account, I swear it"

Similarly, every message coming into it should be provable.

People are losing court cases over what is or isn't in mail accounts so that's the angle I am coming from as a business user.

I was reading technically into it further than you were actually saying. By "My SMTP" I assume you are talking a non fastmail smtp for mail send.

*sigh* This is almost 2007. You'd think this kind of thing would be easy. But I know it isn't.

Tuffmail also lacks per folder personalities and a few other things that make FastMail friendly to use.

Seems these other web interfaces all have their strong and weak points, but I am begining to see why Fastmail built their own.

CL

Hmmm.. Was this moved out of the Fastmail Forum? Or did I somehow start it here?

Ultimately it is about fastmail.

CL

No, you posted it here... I've been a "silent follower" wondering why it is here and not in the fastmail forum... figured it would be moved, but a mod responded so.... Then again, it is more in general, so.... lol

In my opinion it is specifically about other services. Not to contradict OP, however it is about "rivals" ?

I was meaning any SMTP that the "business owner" wants used for company business, whether it's FM's or running its own -- but not something the employee can masquerade as nor avoid using when sending on company business. Tuffmail, Runbox, Fastmail -- I don't think any of them are really thinking about this.

As to your point about a Fastmail timeline, I don't expect anything in the next 30 days will change. Rob recently mentioned business/family features are on the list of things they now will spend time on now that replication is completed, but this should take some time to hatch.