A few weeks ago I took control over my email.  Not only did I clean out my inboxes, but I also converted everything over to Gmail.  Why would I do this?

1. Always online and availabe to me.
2. Doesn’t take up space on my webserver.
3. The labeling system is fantastic.  I didn’t really know this until I really started using it.
4. Integrated nicely with Mail.app or other email applications like Thunderbird and Outlook.
5. I can send and receive email from multiple accounts via one Gmail account.
6. iPhone ready.
7. Email is up even if website is down.

I gave Entourage 2008 a go for a few weeks, but have since switched back to Thunderbird. It was really a lot of little things that just kept adding up.

Here are the top 5 reasons why I dropped Entourage 2008.

1. No Hyperlink Support - You can’t link a few words in emails. This was one that really gets me. I’m always linking phrases to tutorials or additional resources so that people know what I’m talking about.
   • Official Microsoft MVP Support Answer: This function is not available.

I’ve been a big fan of Thunderbird for a while now, but I’m moving on. Entourage 2008 is calling my name at work and I’m listening. I’m a bit sad to say goodbye to Thunderbird, but yet excited at the same time. So why the switch?

The process of exporting email from Outlook to Thunderbird on Windows is really easy. Exporting it from Thunderbird and importing in to Outlook is not hard either, just time consuming. Both ways can be done.

Outlook to Thunderbird
This is actually really easy. The first thing you need is all your email in Outlook. Then, when you setup Thunderbird it will ask you if you want to import your Outlook email. Say yes and it does all the work. No, Thunderbird doesn’t have an import function for the PST file, but it can import anything that’s in Outlook on the same machine. It’s as easy as that.

Thunderbird is not quite as downloaded as Firefox these days, but it is a good start to what hopefully will become a powerful email client.

In my daily use, I’ve tried many extensions and uninstalled most. However, here are 8 that I love:

• Lightning - Having a calendar right in your email client makes it easy to see your schedule and what you’ve got to get done. Plus it brings along the ability to accept Outlook meeting requests which is needed in a corporate environment.
• Provider - What’s better than a calendar? Well a calendar that synchronizes back and fourth with Google Calendar. And for free!

I decided the other day that I wanted a new, cool Growl notification style for when I receive new email in Thunderbird. Instead of creating a Thunderbird specific one, I decided to create a generic one for email.

GotMail is the Growl notification style that I came up with. It’s simple in nature, but does have a bit of added flair at the bottom as a plain black box didn’t suit my needs.

The background of GotMail comes from BittBox.com and the email icon comes from Jonas Rask Design. Thanks to those that make graphics and give them away for free.

Did you know that there are Firefox themes and extensions stuck in the sandbox and that you can help save them? It’s true, with just a few clicks of the mouse, and taps on the keyboard, you can bring joy to a Firefox addon and their developer.

It’s really easy, just head over to the Mozilla Addon site and sign up for a free account. Once you are logged in, click on the ’sandbox’ link next to the search box and you can then browse though the sandbox looking at many brand new & updated themes or extensions. Some of which you may have never seen before! Find one you like, install it and try it out for a few days. Then, head back to the addon’s page in the sandbox and write a review. That’s all there is to it.

Check out iV, my first Thunderbird theme.

Currently iV is in beta mode and this is the first public release. Seeing as I’ve never themed Thunderbird before, there are a lot of issues. It’s funny, I can now create a sweet Firefox theme in just a few hours, but with Thunderbird, I’m fumbling left and right.

iV beta 1 includes all toolbar buttons, basic Lighting support (it works), custom buttons, folders and all sorts of icons.

Just a few days ago I came across Vitae, an amazing Shapeshifter theme. Since I got my new iMac, I haven’t installed Shapeshifter or even thought twice about themes, but now I wanted it. I searched for my serial number and got it installed and it was beautiful. It really is worth a check-out.

Then I thought that it’d be a good Thunderbird theme. You know, something to match Vitae’s Mail.app theme. So I emailed the author and asked permission to use his elements and starting toying around with a Thunderbird theme. Talk about no fun.

The number of different applications that use Gecko are ever increasing. What’s Gecko? It’s the rendering engine that powers such programs as Firefox, Thunderbird and many more.

I guess it all starts with Netscape back in 1998 and possibly even before that when Netscape decided to make a technology to power their browser. It’s come a long way and here are a few applications taking advantage of this open source technology.

1. Firefox* - The most popular and most wildly used Gecko application. It’s the little web browser that’s trying to change the world. With hundreds of extensions and themes, customizing it to fit your needs is one thing that makes it so popular.