Is The Email Client Dead?

These days I’m an AOL Project Phoenix user (say what you will about AOL but it’s a damned fine email product) and I’ve more or less shifted 100% back to webmail over client mail. I still do use Mozilla Thunderbird, however it’s only to retrieve copies of email over IMAP for nightly backup purposes. I rarely compose/send any email in TB being the webmail way is just so much easier.

On the desktop side you’d be hard pressed to find many that are using email clients these days. It’s to the point where people consider an email client "too difficult" to bother with. Mention POP, SMTP or IMAP and you’ll get the deer-in-the-headlights look from many.

Both Windows Live Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird have tried to make it so you don’t have to know in advance mail server information needed for account setup. Windows Live Mail automatically sets up any Hotmail account just from Hotmail username (the email address itself) and password. Mozilla Thunderbird contacts a central server on account setup that lists common mail server addresses. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Then there’s the issue of loading a separate standalone program just for your mail. The sentiment is somewhere along the line of, "If I get my Facebook mail and email all in the browser, why would I bother with something separate? What would be the point?"

This begs the question: Is the email client dead?

Now before I give you my personal answer on that, here’s a few trends I’ve noticed.

Windows Live Mail 2011 is not exactly a great email client

The original Windows Mail that came with Windows Vista was actually pretty good. It was a modernized Outlook Express with nice color coding and thoughtful touches throughout. When the first Windows Live Mail was introduced, it followed suit. Then Microsoft decided to take the colored buttons away. Then the buttons outright disappeared in favor of text-only buttons. Then finally in version 2011 the ribbon interface was put in, thoroughly confusing the crap out of anyone who used it.

Mozilla Thunderbird is way too complicated for what it is

I consider TB a power user’s mail client; it’s definitely not meant for beginners. Prior to version 3, TB was actually pretty easy to use, but then with version 3 a ton of stuff was added in and/or changed around that people didn’t want nor need. It’s like the client can’t decide whether to be corporate or desktop, so it’s an uncomfortable mix in between.

I’m not saying TB should reinvent itself as an all-out simpleton/cartoony client like IncrediMail, but it needs a serious rework in the usability department.

What am I saying here?

What I’m saying is that if you’re the type that actually likes to use a mail client, all you have are two free choices, and they both suck. Sure, you could pay for Microsoft Outlook, but that would be total overkill for just mail.

Mail clients need to start acting more like webmail

I mentioned IncrediMail a moment ago. If you’ve ever used that client, you’ll find that compared to WLM or TB it’s way, way easier to use. Forget about all the cartoony crap it comes with for the moment and concentrate on ease-of-use. IncrediMail has that nailed. Account setup is easy. Composing mail is easy. Managing mail is beyond easy. Contact management? Again, easy. All free mail clients (minus the cartoony crap) need to be this way, but they’re not.

People use webmail because it’s simple and people like simple.

Until mail clients start simplifying, the mail client on the desktop is on the fast track to becoming dead as a doorknob.

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Phil
I use TB and find it to be fine, if I remember correctly the current version will automaticly setup online accounts, the ones I setup were correct, the biggest block to switching to another email, online or client, is importing your address book, but that may be due to my inexperience.
Michael
Whoa . . . you are glossing over the millions and millions of people who use desktop Outlook every day. Way more than you think. Check the stats. It is not perfect, but pretty good.

Rich
There are no reliable ‘stats’ to speak of concerning mail client use. And the ‘millions and millions’ you refer to are in corporate offices and not on the home desktop. Totally different market.

David
Are we doing a weekly “Is (Insert old reliable tech here) dead?” article?

Rich
Given the fact so much mobile app stuff is being introduced to emulate the desktop, I could almost write daily “Did X fall out of favor” articles.

Mrzip
I’m sorry Rich, but I’m going to have to disagree with you. I think the email client is far from dead. and except for the, one time, account setup, I find it simpler than my Comcast web based mail. Now keep in mind that I don’t often use the web based mail, so it’s probably understandable that I find it clunky. But my Outlook does everythin I need it to and gives me more options that I can find on the Comcast web (formating, adding address from my address book). for instance, within typing 3 letters of a name in my address book, Outlook gives me the contact email address. And the biggest thing is that i don’t have to go through a sign in page. I click on my Outlook icon, go start a cup of tea, and come back to have my mail waiting for me.
I’ll grant you that web based has one BIG thing over client and that is that it is wherever you are. While my Outlook is on my desktop PC and only on my desktop PC. But then, I rarely use any other computer anyway.

Rich
Were I using ISP-based mail I wouldn’t use the web-based version either. My ISP (Brighthouse) has RoadRunner email with an interface that I swear hasn’t updated since 2003; you’re treated to a seriously clunky interface with a disgustingly huge banner ad on every page in that webmail system. In that instance, the mail client is the better choice. For modernized webmail systems (Hotmail, Gmail, AOL Project Phoenix, etc.), the browser version is better.

Mrzip
Oops! With that info in mind, I’ve got to say that I’ve spoken out of turn. Although I have a Gmail account, I get it through my Outlook and haven’t checked out the web interface in years. I’ll have to take another look. I’m glad that I was specific about my provider when mentioning my experience with web based email. At least I don’t look like a TOTAL idiot.

Luis R
I would hate that e-mail clients become more like webmail. Why should they? I see webmail only as an alternative to look for e-mail away from my computer. And although I have several accounts in the major free webmail providers, my main e-mail account is not from any of them. An e-mail client is better suited in my case. You only need to set it up once and you are good to go. I was a looooong time user of Outlook Express but it recently started acting up way too frequently and decided to go to Mozilla Thunderbird which works quite nicely. It is not as straightforward as Outlook Express but it is not hard to learn. At work they used Novell GroupWise which had its limitations but people there grew accustomed to it. About a year ago they switched to Outlook and I find it overly complex and people still complain that they can no longer do things the way they were used to.
Jim
I can definitely see it happening, webmail software are very swift and so are browsers, I regularly use google docs INSTEAD of ms office these days, and it’s a perfect replacement, and allows me to work from anywhere.
As the speed and “lag” differences between deskptop email client performance and webmail decreases the switchover will become a lot more easier.
In many areas webmail currently performs a lot faster, if you have 3000+ emails in your inbox and you’re trying to locate an email, you can fire out queries in your gmail inbox search all day long and you will receive instant results, on a desktop email client [particularly netbooks] these searchqueries can take a while to return full results.
Michael
Gmail is not actually very popular, compared to other webmail systems, and certainly not as popular as Outlook.
A study of over half a billion openings, showed Outlook at 36%, and Gmail at 5%. This includes people who use both.
Hotmail, Yahoo, Apple, and Iphone were all more popular than Gmail.
Source: http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/