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Thundermail and Thunderbird Pro Services

41 responses

Today we’re pleased to announce what many in our open source contributor community already know. The Thunderbird team is working on an email service called “Thundermail” as well as file sharing, calendar scheduling and other helpful cloud-based services that as a bundle we have been calling “Thunderbird Pro.”

First, a point of clarification: Thunderbird, the email app, is and always will be free. We will never place features that can be delivered through the Thunderbird app behind a paywall. If something can be done directly on your device, it should be. However, there are things that can’t be done on your computer or phone that many people have come to expect from their email suites. This is what we are setting out to solve with our cloud-based services.

All of these new services are (or soon will be) open source software under true open source licenses. That’s how Thunderbird does things and we believe it is our super power. It is also a major reason we exist: to create open source communication and productivity software that respects our users. Because you can see how it works, you can know that it is doing the right thing.

The Why for offering these services is simple. Thunderbird loses users each day to rich ecosystems that are both products and services, such as Gmail and Office365. These ecosystems have both hard vendor lock-ins (through interoperability issues with 3rd-party clients) and soft lock-ins (through convenience and integration between their clients and services). It is our goal to eventually have a similar offering so that a 100% open source, freedom-respecting alternative ecosystem is available for those who want it. We don’t even care if you use our services with Thunderbird apps, go use them with any mail client. No lock-in, no restrictions – all open standards. That is freedom.

What Are The Services?

Thunderbird Appointment

Appointment is a scheduling tool that allows you to send a link to someone, allowing them to pick a time on your calendar to meet. The repository for Appointment has been public for a while and has seen pretty remarkable development so far. It is currently in a closed Beta and we are letting more users in each day.

Appointment has been developed to make meeting with others easier. We weren’t happy with the existing tools as they were either proprietary or too bloated, so we started building Appointment.

Thunderbird Send

Send is an end-to-end encrypted file sharing service that allows you to upload large files to the service and share links to download those files with others. Many Thunderbird users have expressed interest in the ability to share large files in a privacy-respecting way – and it was a problem we were eager to solve.

Thunderbird Send is the rebirth of Firefox Send – well, kind of. At this point, we have a bit of a Ship of Theseus situation – having rebuilt much of the project to allow for a more direct method of sharing files (from user-to-user without the need to share a link). We opened up the repo to the public earlier this week. So we encourage everyone interested to go and check it out.

Thunderbird Send is currently in Alpha testing, and will move to a closed Beta very soon.

Thunderbird Assist

Assist is an experiment, developed in partnership with Flower AI, a flexible open-source framework for scalable, privacy-preserving federated learning, that will enable users to take advantage of AI features. The hope is that processing can be done on devices that can support the models, and for devices that are not powerful enough to run the language models locally, we are making use of Flower Confidential Remote Compute in order to ensure private remote processing (very similar to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute). 

Given some users’ sensitivity to this, these types of features will always be optional and something that users will have to opt into. As a reminder, Thunderbird will never train AI with your data. The repo for Assist is not public yet, but it will be soon.

Thundermail

Thundermail is an email service (with calendars and contacts as well). We want to provide email accounts to those who love Thunderbird, and we believe that we are capable of providing a better service than the other providers out there. Email that aligns with our values of privacy, freedom and respect of our users. No ads, no selling or training AI on your data – just your email and it is your email.

With Thundermail, it is our goal to create a next generation email experience that is completely, 100% open source and built by all of us, our contributors and users. Unlike the other services, there will not be a single repository where this work is done. But we will try and share relevant places to contribute in future posts like this.

The email domain for Thundermail will be Thundermail.com or tb.pro. Additionally, you will be able to bring your own domain on day 1 of the service.

Heading to thundermail.com you will see a sign up page for the beta waitlist. Please join it!

Final Thoughts

Don’t services cost money to run?

You may be thinking: “this all sounds expensive, how will Thunderbird be able to pay for it?” And that’s a great question! Services such as Send are actually quite expensive (storage is costly). So here is the plan: at the beginning, there will be paid subscription plans at a few different tiers. Once we have a sufficiently strong base of paying users to sustainably support our services, we plan to introduce a limited free tier to the public. You see this with other providers: limitations are standard as free email and file sharing are prone to abuse.

It’s also important to highlight again that Thunderbird Pro will be a completely separate offering from the Thunderbird you already use. While Thunderbird and the additional new services may work together and complement each other for those who opt in, they will never replace, compromise, or interfere with the core features or free availability of Thunderbird. Nothing about your current Thunderbird experience will change unless you choose to opt in and sign up with Thunderbird Pro. None of these features will be automatically integrated into Thunderbird desktop or mobile or activated without your knowledge.

The Realization of a Dream

This has been a long time coming. It is my conviction that all of this should have been a part of the Thunderbird universe a decade ago. But it’s better late than never. Just like our Android client has expanded what Thunderbird is (as will our iOS client), so too will these services.

Thunderbird is unique in the world. Our focus on open source, open standards, privacy and respect for our users is something that should be expressed in multiple forms. The absence of Thunderbird web services means that our users must make compromises that are often uncomfortable ones. This is how we correct that.

I hope that all of you will check out this work and share your thoughts and test these things out. What’s exciting is that you can run Send or Appointment today, on your own server. Everything that we do will be out in the open and you can come and help us build it! Together we can create amazing experiences that enhance how we manage our email, calendars, contacts and beyond.

Thank you for being on this journey with us.

—

Ryan Sipes
Managing Director of Product
Thunderbird

Tags: tbpro thundermail

41 responses

RZ wrote on

“Thunderbird loses users each day to rich ecosystems that are both products and services, such as Gmail and Office365.”

Why not just add EWS support? There are 3rd party apps such as EM Client, Owl for Exchange Add-on, that supports EWS. I’m pretty sure TB will gain users significantly. People are WILLING to pay just to escape from Outlook.

RZ wrote on

Even with TB Pro, it’s never easy to sway people who are bound to Gmail or 365 ecosystems to switch to a service they are unfamiliar with. I think adding support for other email protocols is always the quickest way to gain users.

Marcel wrote on

This is really, really…I mean really fantastic news. For me it’s not so much the services themselves (I’m in a position I can easily w/o them), but the fact that “Thunderbird” the company/team feels strong enough to start working on them. All of that at the same time you’re overhauling the desktop client and working on an Android client. Who would have thought 5y ago. Very impressive!

Marcel wrote on

I just hope that your services are neither hosted in the US nor by a large US cloud provider abroad. Keeping the global audience in mind, this should be done under a jurisdiction that offers strong privacy laws.

david kirk wrote on

Please also consider adding a backup and restore capability. I’m a volunteer on SUMO and a fee-based backup service would seem to find a ready audience. Every day, there are posts from users wanting to restore messages they have deleted. This is an exciting announcement you are making. I look forward to seeing more of this. Thank you. 🙂

Rick wrote on

Love this plan for each of these new services and apps. I would love to sever the for profit corporate tentacles and prying eyes seeking to exploit every aspect of my interactions.
Happy to sign up as soon as possible!
Great work, thanks to all who contribute.

MF wrote on

sounds nice, I had to stop using thunderbird in work because of some specific encryptions in microsoft mail, but outlook sucks, I miss thunderbird functions.

Alex wrote on

Thanks for heads up and your attitude.

MV wrote on

Can you talk about features it can be interesting to integrate?
I will be an happy client if some feature can be available on Emailing system/configuration.

Axel wrote on

I signed up for the Thundermail waitlist. I love Thunderbird, and I’d be happy to pay for an email and calendar service directly from Thunderbird.

CH wrote on

WHEN? Give me the details!

Daryl wrote on

Heck yeah! Been hoping this would happen for a long time

User wrote on

Does Thunderbird Appointment effect the android app eventually getting a calendar?

Gabriel wrote on

Any chance this will integrate something like Collabora Online for document editing? Would have the added benefit of pushing to open document format to more users.

Igor wrote on

I confirmed my Thunderbird Pro subscription yesterday. Do you know when Thunderbird Pro will be available? I ask because I have been using Thunderbird for years! Thanks and best regards, Igor

Kelly wrote on

I hope you will take some inspiration from Fastmail in terms of features.

Also honestly you should probably drop the AI stuff as soon as possible, but I get that Mozilla C-suite thing for AI is probably the reason they are agreeing to drive this forward. But they will tire of it soon enough, like FF OS and VR, then you can get rid of it.

Ty Carter wrote on

I am so excited to see this… This has to be in the top 5 pieces of great news this weekend. I would love to help out testing…. I am not a programmer but can test out and give my 2 cents worth… Just ask.. Looking forward to what is to come!

Balma wrote on

Buongiorno, Con Thunderbird non ci sono gli avvisi di notifiche delle email in arrivo. Finche’ non permettete la notifica delle e-mail in arrivo automaticamente (Info che arriva in basso a DX del PC ), nessuno verra’ mai da voi. Anche la piu’ stupida delle email, mi avvisa dell’arrivo di una email con una icona e un suono. Per questo motivo , milioni di noi vi lasciano per andare altrove. Che Thunderbird e’ gratuito non e’ un vantaggio. Oggi tutti nel mondo si possono permettere di pagare 1€ al mese di abbonamento. Per tutto il resto Thunderbird e’ la prima al mondo. Per concludre, provate a immagginare una segretaria 8 ore al PC, e ogni 5 minuti si deve ricordare di aprire Thunderbird per vedere se e’ arrivata una email. …..Roba da matti…. Saluti

Mr H wrote on

Looking forward to the new services.

Mr H wrote on

That would be nice if the services be available on multiple platform, e.g., iOS, Android, etc.

synonomous wrote on

Went looking for this service bc a man-child complained that Thunderbird was offering this service that “aligns with the companies values” and I wouldn’t have known otherwise. Thanks Lunduke <3

MUSAWENKOSI DLAMINI wrote on

All Good.

MUSAWENKOSI DLAMINI wrote on

This software is very user friendly.

BOLLINGH Sébastien wrote on

That’s all very interesting, but why on earth would you provide a centralised service and reproduce the GAFAM trap?
It’s interesting to provide a paying service for those who don’t want or can’t be bothered with a service to manage.
But what we really want from the Mozilla foundation is a containerised solution for a self-hosting server solution. The aim is to host its own solution, interoperable with others. Perhaps even a centralised OIDC solution enabling access to be granted to other trusted servers…

Peter wrote on

First of all: great news.
The biggest questions I have:

– Where will the servers be actually located?

– Will this project be and remain completely independent from Mozilla, same as Thunderbird itself?

– What other features and commitments will this service offer to enhance and ensure privacy?

U. Derbashi wrote on

As excited as I am for a new competing solution to Gmail and Outlook, and you addressed their shortcomings adequately, there is an elephant in the room; mature privacy-respecting email services such as Tuta and Proton.

Thundermail will come as the new kid around the block, and many of the promises here have already been fulfilled by the other services.

I wonder, what is your strategy when it comes to competing with the established privacy-respecting services.

Another time maybe wrote on

Wow you just choose the wrong time to try and go profiting while being a company based in the (un)united states.

I’ve tried really hard to like Mozilla stuff. But to be honest the history of Mozilla is not great, between the really slow development, out of date software, browser which is 5+ years behind the competition and previous services and ideas which all failed and disappeared.

I just don’t see how you can compete against so many other existing mature services like Proton or similar, especially those which are not based in the US and subjected to US government ruling. Nothing private or secure about that.

Dr. Tej A. Shah wrote on

Get it HIPAA compliant and I will switch in a heartbeat.

Don Reba wrote on

E2E encrypted services, like Tuta and Proton, don’t work well with offline clients, like Thunderbird. As far as U cab tekkm Thundermail is not promising E2EE. It’s in a slightly different niche.

Just Julie wrote on

I’ve been a Thunderbird user since the early part of the century. A long LONG time. Maybe I am biased, but it’s the best overall email client package in terms of stability and the fact that there are people still working on it over the decades. Outlook * Gmail don’t hold a candle, IMHO.

Adam wrote on

Infomaniak where I moved all website hosting from US soil have everything needed for TB to host outside US.

Daniel wrote on

My relationship with Proton Mail is getting stale, to say the least. I am very interested!

Igor wrote on

I confirmed my Thunderbird Pro subscription. Do anybody know when Thunderbird Pro will be available? I ask because I have been using Thunderbird for years! Thanks and best regards, Igor

Monica Ayhens-Madon wrote on

Thanks for signing up for the updates! We’ll keep providing regular updates here on when the products in Thunderbird Pro will be available. You can already sign up for the beta of our first Pro product, appointment, at https://appointment.day

30iptv wrote on

Im very happy to see thunderbird comming with strong updates.

Valerian wrote on

Great news. In terms of naming, I’d go for Thundermail Pro instead of Thunderbird Pro, clearly separating the service from the application. I believe you’ll have less explaining and countering prejudices to do moving forward.

P.Woodlock wrote on

Interested to see how this fairs out, I’ve been a TB user for along as I can remember which is over 15 years + now.

I currently use Proton, so let’s see how another competitor fairs out to the market. Although, I highly respect Proton too.

Pam Clark wrote on

I loved Thunderbird until it went to Super Nova and then everything went south and I couldn’t even go back to a much needed older version!
I am shopping for a new program, and need to recover to a functional email program. Like I said, I used to love it. I don’t really want the AI part but do want the old wonderful functionality it used to have. When will it be ready to try?

Phil Thompson wrote on

Will there be a non US version with no hosting or economic links to the USofA ?

Monica Ayhens-Madon wrote on

In future updates we’ll be talking about where data will be hosted. Right now, we are planning on EU hosted data for Thundermail when we launch.

oncotic wrote on

Very happy to see this coming. Hopefully it helps further fund Thunderbird’s development. An open source email/productivity service to compete with google and Microsoft is very much needed. Especially with the rise of fascism and authoritarianism around the world. We need a service we can trust, running open source software. Most privacy respecting email services dont publish their backend source code. Thunderbird can be the exception.

Comments are closed.