Mozilla Messenging

Mozilla has set up its new site for Thunderbird, called Mozilla Messenging:

Email and similar communication tools are a fundamental part of the online experience. We think they could be much better than they are today. What if...

• Getting lots of email was helpful, not overwhelming? Could it even be fun?
  
• Finding out what's important or new was obvious?
  
• It was easy to broadcast, and keep the personal private?
  
• Software could take into account how people communicate, rather than requiring people to understand how it works?

We work with a global community of like-minded individuals and companies as part of the Mozilla project. Our first priority is to help drive the evolution of the Thunderbird email program. Find out how we go about it, and how you can contribute.

I can't even begin to explain how ambivalent I am about this. The world doesn't need yet another email application. Email lives in the cloud and should stay there for the most part. (IMHO, I know there are some old-school email app holdouts out there.) Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and many other Web-based solutions (especially when used in tandem with a portable device like an iPhone, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile device) are so much more sophisticated and useful than something that's stuck on an individual PC. You should be able to access your email from anywhere. These applications are like email deathtraps, sorry.