Thunderbird email is going pro to better compete with Gmail

Thunderbird’s developers are planning to compete with Gmail and other email providers by offering paid “pro” tier services, including @thundermail.com email addresses and new services such as an appointment scheduler, file sharing tools, and some “Thunderbird Assist” AI features. You can join a beta waitlist by going to thundermail.com, which is the domain for the email addresses, along with an option for @tb.pro. Thunderbird managing director Ryan Sipes announced that the services are in the works in a post on the Thunderbird Planning discussion group last Friday. However, it seems pretty early in development, and there are no announced tiers and pricing, though Sipes said there would be both free and paid tiers. “It is our goal to eventually have a similar offering so that a 100 percent open source, freedom-respecting alternative ecosystem is available for those who want it,” said Sipes. Thunderbird is a long-running open source email client that originally launched in 2003 and ... Read full article.