Replacing or fixing the bloat that is Thunderbird (was "Re: : Linux desktop sluggish over time")

[Marc Lanctot]

Alex Beamish wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 2:16 PM, Marc Lanctot<lanctot-yfeSBMgouQgsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Considering my experience with Linux this seems to be a problem a should
>> have fixed by now, but it's an problem I'm growing particularly annoyed
>> with.
>>
>> I notice that over time Linux desktops I use tend to get sluggish. I know
>> this is true for at least Ubuntu and Fedorah. I don't remember feeling it as
>> much on Debian, but it's been a while.
> 
> I use Windowmaker as my desktop, and about the only thing that slows
> it down to a crawl is Thunderbird. At work I have a dual core
> processor, so while one core is getting monopolized by TBird, the
> other core is doing Everything Else. At home I have a regular single
> core, so TBird hogs my machine for 30-45 seconds on startup (login, I
> guess I should say), and sometimes when downloading messages.
> 
> I leave my machine on for months -- right now I think it's been up for
> 90 days. I log out after each session; I assume that cleans a few
> things up.
> 
> See if you have the same slowness when TBird isn't running -- that's my vote.

TB causes noticeable slow-downs.

Allow me to spawn another discussion out of this. :)

I've been considering replacing TBird because of this "bloat", but I 
can't find another, lighter mailer that have all the things I like most 
about Thunderbird:

- GUI-based. As much as I love using mutt through ssh, I need something 
a little more usable

- proper IMAP filters; I can filter an incoming email into a server-side 
IMAP folder. AFAIK even Evolution can't do this. What gives?

- quick search on subject and sender mailboxes (in TB you can do this 
without having to use a menu bar.. there's a text box for it that works 
as you start typing)

- support for multiple accounts, multiple SMTPs, SSL for both IMAP and 
SMTP.

- integration with a centralized calendar that can remind me of upcoming 
events. In particular google calendar, with both read *and* write 
access. This isn't essential, but it is really sweet to have.

- support for NNTP and RSS a plus but not required

Do all these nice things require such a massive app? Is there a way we 
can make TB a little more efficient?

Marc

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