I don't get it, why do you want it to be native then? What's the advantage?

morsch · on July 7, 2012

Not being tied to Google, or any other specific provider.

No ads (and no need to try to avoid them). Nobody systematically reading all my mail to custom-tailer said ads.

Easier integration with client-side encryption tools to facilitate end-to-end encryption.

Better support for plugins and other modifications.

I'm sure others have variations on this theme.

jtheory · on July 8, 2012

Agreed, for many of the same reasons.

I have several GMail addresses, and a Google Apps email address for work, and variously-hosted other email addresses, all managed from within Thunderbird (with several extensions found over the years).

I don't want to merge personal stuff with my work email; I don't want to merge my work email into a personal gmail account; and above all I don't want to do either of those things then find that some robot in the system has locked me out of my account.

I also really need to have full offline access, so I can work in spite of unreliable or infrequent net connections. I.e., in 20 minutes of internet access in a crowded coffeeshop, I can upload dozens of responses to yesterday's mail, and collect today's mail, and fit in a few rapid realtime messages, then go. I'm not often forced to work this way, but when I am this is a lifesaver.