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Old 31 Oct 2012, 11:28 PM   #1
mephistodan
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Alternatives to fastmail business pacakge

Hi All

I have been using FM for 10+ years and after the recent fiasco it's time for a change as I can only see FM going down hill from now on.

The question is what's the best alternative for FM that is on par in terms of the web interface (the old one ofcourse) and in terms of having the business package flexibility options.

I'm looking for a business package of about 30 users. I've heard about tuffmail and nonymousspeech but I don't really know how they compare and I remember from few years ago when I used to browse the forums that there were some other competitors as well.

Anyone can recommend a list of alternatives?

Thanks
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Old 31 Oct 2012, 11:42 PM   #2
NJSS
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See this thread:-

http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=65449

NJSS
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Old 1 Nov 2012, 12:51 AM   #3
William9
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Some business email options (I'm using or have used all of them):
LuxSci - awesome customer service and features. Can be pricey, but worth it in my opinion.
Polarismail - very nice Group Office interface - excellent participation on this forum. Liked by several here.
Tuffmail - very good, and still stable but no sign of recent development by its relatively new owner over the past 2 years or so.
Google Apps - Excellent web interface. Paid version ($50 per user/year) has support.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 12:30 AM   #4
ChinaLamb
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mephistodan View Post
I have been using FM for 10+ years and after the recent fiasco it's time for a change as I can only see FM going down hill from now on.
The 'classic' interface isn't going anywhere, in fact, that 'classic' interface is getting new features which are rolling out now alongside the 'new' interface.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 01:26 AM   #5
labarum
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChinaLamb View Post
The 'classic' interface isn't going anywhere, in fact, that 'classic' interface is getting new features which are rolling out now alongside the 'new' interface.
Stylesheets have been returned to us; but what new features have we seen in the last couple of day?. I have not gone a-hunting, but nothing hits me in the eye.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 09:35 AM   #6
ChinaLamb
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Quote:
Originally Posted by labarum View Post
Stylesheets have been returned to us; but what new features have we seen in the last couple of day?. I have not gone a-hunting, but nothing hits me in the eye.
I read something about sessions being implemented... not sure what that meant, quite honestly.

Also:
Sent and Sent Items are being changed. There is conflict with devices like Android and other devices. I am told that there will be better integration into mobile devices going forward. These are all good things. There are other changes happening to the underlying code making fastmail more efficient and more interoperable. These will benefit users of 'classic' and 'new'.

http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...2&postcount=17

Last edited by ChinaLamb : 2 Nov 2012 at 09:40 AM.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 09:43 AM   #7
Terry
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChinaLamb View Post
The 'classic' interface isn't going anywhere, in fact, that 'classic' interface is getting new features which are rolling out now alongside the 'new' interface.
The Classic has also been changed, but a lot of people have not realised, some things look the same but it's not the same U.I we had a week ago.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 10:02 AM   #8
ChinaLamb
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry View Post
The Classic has also been changed, but a lot of people have not realised, some things look the same but it's not the same U.I we had a week ago.
Yes, It's changed some, things are not in the same place. It works a little differently. All my things still work, all my scripts work, all my infrastructure I built using this service is still there and able to be manipulated. Things are just in a different place. So far, how much is really 'missing' from the classic? I see discussions of things missing from the 'new' - but I don't see a discussion of things missing from 'classic.'

No one, especially most of us who are familiar with IT, can seriously expect that Fastmail would never change their UI. Style sheets were gone, yes, but one would expect that old style sheets have to be upgraded when UI gets upgraded.

BAD analogy, but Apple upgrades the iPhone, and suddenly everyone has to upgrade their app to the Retina display for it to be in the app store...

I just don't understand all the shouting and name calling that is happening with this. Some warning that things were going to change could have been nice, and telling people that 'classic,' well, the "new classic", would be there... but I'm not sure we wouldn't still be having this discussion.

/cl
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 12:37 PM   #9
Tappahannock
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They just chose the term "Classic" to highlight the parallel with New Coke -- which, as most probably remember, was quickly followed by a reintroduction of Coke Classic.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 08:12 PM   #10
ChinaLamb
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tappahannock View Post
They just chose the term "Classic" to highlight the parallel with New Coke -- which, as most probably remember, was quickly followed by a reintroduction of Coke Classic.
but Coca-Cola killed off classic coke when they introduced new coke...

fastmail did not kill off the classic interface.

I don't understand all the antagonism.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 08:40 PM   #11
Prognathous
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Originally Posted by ChinaLamb View Post
So far, how much is really 'missing' from the classic? I see discussions of things missing from the 'new' - but I don't see a discussion of things missing from 'classic.'
If you don't see such discussions it's probably because you don't want to see them. Here are a few:

http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=65580
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...629#post546629
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...948#post546948

Prog.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 08:54 PM   #12
ChinaLamb
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Originally Posted by Prognathous View Post
If you don't see such discussions it's probably because you don't want to see them. Here are a few:

http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=65580
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...629#post546629
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...948#post546948

Prog.
one of those links opens a page discussing a broken login shortcut.

the other discusses a few missing stylesheets.

the third link mentions the first two issues, and a frustration of less data being displayed.

I don't see these issues warranting the amount of angst out there, and the "I've had enough and I'm out of here attitude"... Please, what am I missing?
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 09:18 PM   #13
Prognathous
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChinaLamb View Post
one of those links opens a page discussing a broken login shortcut.
You obviously didn't read or understand the post in question. I suggest that you make some effort.

Quote:
the other discusses a few missing stylesheets.
Opera Support claims that the stylesheet are there, but they ignore the fact that they're broken. This may be acceptable conduct for a free service, but not for a paid one. If you don't use stylesheets, then obviously you won't care.

Quote:
the third link mentions the first two issues, and a frustration of less data being displayed.
This is another example where the Classic UI is broken and behaves annoyingly. If you don't use this functionality, then obviously you won't care.

Quote:
I don't see these issues warranting the amount of angst out there, and the "I've had enough and I'm out of here attitude"... Please, what am I missing?
Yes, you're missing the concept that different people have different needs, and that your specific definition of what justifies angst or not doesn't represent any universal truth. If the most basic task of opening my Inbox now takes several additional steps and many more seconds, then yes, I have every damn right to be angry! And I don't think you don't get it. It seems like you're just enjoying to get already-frustrated users even more agitated. Please stop.

Prog.

Last edited by Prognathous : 2 Nov 2012 at 09:27 PM.
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Old 2 Nov 2012, 09:19 PM   #14
BritTim
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChinaLamb View Post
Please, what am I missing?
At this stage, cognitive dissonance has taken over most of us on both sides of this argument. For me, Opera's actions have severely shaken my trust in their competence and assurances. You are not going to convince me otherwise. For you, we are just complaining about a few font, color and white space issues. I am not going to convince you, so let's all just stop keep repeating the same arguments (hard advice for me to follow by the way).
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Old 3 Nov 2012, 12:13 AM   #15
montmorencyfm
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At best, it was terrible psychology doing it the way they did it.

Introducing major changes with potentially wide impact (bigger than they were expecting, seemingly) under the guise of a quick outage for maintenance. Unfortunately, that looks dishonest, even if it wasn't intended that way.

I fully accept the need to keep the underlying platforms fully up to date, and that was the kind of change I thought they were making on the 30th Oct.

That's the kind where you bring up the system, and then hope to goodness that it's still working like it was before (or maybe better because of better response, etc).


OK, so if they tell me that the old interface can't run on the new platform, fair enough and they've produced a lookalike, or as near as dammit, a lookalike, then that's what they should have brought up as the "production version" after the outage on the 30th, and nothing else..

People would have grumbled a bit that things weren't identical, but most things would have worked the same, most people would have been reasonably happy. (Most people probably wouldn't have even noticed).

And such problems as there were could have been more easily and more smoothly handled and dealt with.


Those who were using the Beta before could carry on doing that, and maybe they could have given the Beta more prominence, letting people know they want to make it standard in the near future (months away, not days though).


And perhaps they could have given themselves enough time to make the "classic view" a genuine lookalike of the old view.

One major change at a time. Except that for technical reasons, they couldn't actually restrict it to one major change at a time, since the "classic" isn't actually the old system. But as far as the customers were concerned, it would have looked like only one change.

They could have achieved their major objective - i.e. getting all users onto the same underlying platform, with a lot less aggravation, and problems on both sides.


If I take away the car that you love, and give you a prototype of a much better car, but it doesn't quite work properly, and certainly not the way your old car did, you wouldn't be happy.

If I gave you a 99.9% reproduction model of your old car to be going on with, but said I was working on the prototype in the garage round the corner, you could come and have a look anytime, and it should be really working well in a few months....

...I think you'd be happier.
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