I have been following Aethera's progress for a while now. I'm really happy to have it, but there are a few things that really hinder me from using it. I would like to make some suggestions here, if theKompany doesn't mind, about which things are really important to fix. I'm sure theKompany has it's own schedule and plans but please - listen to your customers.
1. The single most killing bug revolves around the "Leave messages on server for x days" setting. I have a few computers and even share email accounts with some people, so it is crucial that I be able to get mail off the pop3 server without deleting messages. The normal way to do this, of course, is to leave your messages on the server for 1 or 2 days. However, I also have all my mail apps set to check mail periodically, usually at 5-minute intervals. Unfortunately Aethera downloads /each/ /message/ /every/ time it checks the mail. Think about it - I get a couple hundred emails per day, and Aethera is downloading all of them repeatedly every 5 minutes. Even if I set it to 30 minutes or an hour (which is an unacceptably long time - I must get messages promptly), It would still be downloading 30, 50, 100 copies of /each message/ every day. This fills up my hard disk space and is a BIG nuisance, since it doesn't seem to realize that I've already read at least one copy of a particular message. The new copies are of course marked "unread". Quite annoying. Kmail has /exactly/ the same problem - almost makes me wonder if theKompany used some of Kmail's pop3 code. Perhaps they could fix it and donate it back to kmail :-) Please fix this soon, very soon - it completely prevents me from using the app. I could live with any of the other problems, but this one is unacceptable.
2. Tools>Empty Deleted Mail does /not/ empty the trash. I have to open the trash folder and delete the messages a second time to get rid of them. This is also a problem when I'm trying to remove several hundred messages a day ;-)
3. It would be really nice to right-click on the trashcan and have an "Empty trashcan" option in the context menu.
4. There doesn't seem to be tool-tips for all buttons in the button bar. It would be really nice if they all had a tool tip, instead of just some of them.
5. Every time I choose Tools>Send/Receive>All Accounts, or even just one of the accounts, the Progress dialog box doesn't close it's self. I have to hit "Hide" to get rid of it.
6. Options>Configuration Browser opens the config window, but if I click on any of the submenus (i.e. Options>{Accounts|Mail|Contacts|Groups|Notes}), the window doesn't even open, much less go to the correct page :-/. This one make Aethera appear "hokey", but at least it doesn't actually cause a problem.
7. Hilighting a bunch of messages in the message window doesn't seem to work very well at all. When I click-drag from top to bottom or bottom to top, often about half of the messages don't actually get selected. At least Shift-Click works OK.
8. There is still the bug where the last letter of your message gets erased. I have verified that:
a. The last letter is erased when you send a message to your own default address. to your own default address, and that is an error that happens during or before the sending, not the viewing (I downloaded the sent message with Eudora on Win2k and the letter was gone.
b. If you send to an other address, the letter is not erased.
I did not have time to try and see what happens if you have multiple pop3 accounts setup.
Also, I still consider it a bug that the RPM that claims to be made for SuSE doesn't install into the proper directories on SuSE. It would almost be better to NOT name it suse7.1_ then the call it that and have it fail. I do not know of any other company or group that has such a shameful practise as to expect users to use relocate on an RPM that proclaims to be tailored for their system. I also have doubts that the "SuSE" Aethera RPM is built on a SuSE system, as I am unable to recompile the src rpm, and am unable to compile the tarball. (first I get this error: checking for Qt... configure: error: Qt (>= Qt 2.2.1) (libraries) not found. Please check your installation! I found a way around this a while back [I've forgotten the details now] but there was another error after that)
By the way, why isn't there a src.rpm on SourceForge for the latest aethera-0.9.2-1_tkc_*.*.rpm ?
Please note that I am not just *complaining* but trying to help out with bug reports/suggestions. If there is a better place to send these then sourceforge, please let me know. I'll maybe try to forward this to TKC.
Thanks for all the good work, please keep it up. I really appreciate the improvements on speed - the last beta was almost unusable on my 300 Mhz test box, it was so slow :-/ . Please fix the problem with "continual re-downloading of the same messages" ASAP, it is really a killing bug for my and my co-workers. Every one that I personally know of uses the "Leave messages on server for x days" option in their mail client.
Well, keep up the good work!
----------------------------------------------------
Jonathan Wilson
System Administrator
Hi,
1) The re-downloading the messages shouldn't happened.
The messages UID are in the $AETHERA/internal/rcvuids, please check if this file is not empty. If it isn't empty, please remove it and try it again.
Because Aethera hasn't a stable release the usual way is to leave the messages there (safe). But I didn't get bugs in the POP3 protocol and the option will be functional soon.
We are not using any KMail code.
2) 3) 4) 5) 6) and 7) will come after the new UI will be ready.
Sorry but the old UI isn't not good and it will not be fixed.
8 a) and b) I will solved asap.
There are some changes in the sources, the sources will be available again after I will make some fixes.
I understand very well your message, I really like such mails :)
Thanks!
Eug
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I have been following Aethera's progress for a while now. I'm really happy to have it, but there are a few things that really hinder me from using it. I would like to make some suggestions here, if theKompany doesn't mind, about which things are really important to fix. I'm sure theKompany has it's own schedule and plans but please - listen to your customers.
1. The single most killing bug revolves around the "Leave messages on server for x days" setting. I have a few computers and even share email accounts with some people, so it is crucial that I be able to get mail off the pop3 server without deleting messages. The normal way to do this, of course, is to leave your messages on the server for 1 or 2 days. However, I also have all my mail apps set to check mail periodically, usually at 5-minute intervals. Unfortunately Aethera downloads /each/ /message/ /every/ time it checks the mail. Think about it - I get a couple hundred emails per day, and Aethera is downloading all of them repeatedly every 5 minutes. Even if I set it to 30 minutes or an hour (which is an unacceptably long time - I must get messages promptly), It would still be downloading 30, 50, 100 copies of /each message/ every day. This fills up my hard disk space and is a BIG nuisance, since it doesn't seem to realize that I've already read at least one copy of a particular message. The new copies are of course marked "unread". Quite annoying. Kmail has /exactly/ the same problem - almost makes me wonder if theKompany used some of Kmail's pop3 code. Perhaps they could fix it and donate it back to kmail :-) Please fix this soon, very soon - it completely prevents me from using the app. I could live with any of the other problems, but this one is unacceptable.
2. Tools>Empty Deleted Mail does /not/ empty the trash. I have to open the trash folder and delete the messages a second time to get rid of them. This is also a problem when I'm trying to remove several hundred messages a day ;-)
3. It would be really nice to right-click on the trashcan and have an "Empty trashcan" option in the context menu.
4. There doesn't seem to be tool-tips for all buttons in the button bar. It would be really nice if they all had a tool tip, instead of just some of them.
5. Every time I choose Tools>Send/Receive>All Accounts, or even just one of the accounts, the Progress dialog box doesn't close it's self. I have to hit "Hide" to get rid of it.
6. Options>Configuration Browser opens the config window, but if I click on any of the submenus (i.e. Options>{Accounts|Mail|Contacts|Groups|Notes}), the window doesn't even open, much less go to the correct page :-/. This one make Aethera appear "hokey", but at least it doesn't actually cause a problem.
7. Hilighting a bunch of messages in the message window doesn't seem to work very well at all. When I click-drag from top to bottom or bottom to top, often about half of the messages don't actually get selected. At least Shift-Click works OK.
8. There is still the bug where the last letter of your message gets erased. I have verified that:
a. The last letter is erased when you send a message to your own default address. to your own default address, and that is an error that happens during or before the sending, not the viewing (I downloaded the sent message with Eudora on Win2k and the letter was gone.
b. If you send to an other address, the letter is not erased.
I did not have time to try and see what happens if you have multiple pop3 accounts setup.
Also, I still consider it a bug that the RPM that claims to be made for SuSE doesn't install into the proper directories on SuSE. It would almost be better to NOT name it suse7.1_ then the call it that and have it fail. I do not know of any other company or group that has such a shameful practise as to expect users to use relocate on an RPM that proclaims to be tailored for their system. I also have doubts that the "SuSE" Aethera RPM is built on a SuSE system, as I am unable to recompile the src rpm, and am unable to compile the tarball. (first I get this error: checking for Qt... configure: error: Qt (>= Qt 2.2.1) (libraries) not found. Please check your installation! I found a way around this a while back [I've forgotten the details now] but there was another error after that)
By the way, why isn't there a src.rpm on SourceForge for the latest aethera-0.9.2-1_tkc_*.*.rpm ?
Please note that I am not just *complaining* but trying to help out with bug reports/suggestions. If there is a better place to send these then sourceforge, please let me know. I'll maybe try to forward this to TKC.
Thanks for all the good work, please keep it up. I really appreciate the improvements on speed - the last beta was almost unusable on my 300 Mhz test box, it was so slow :-/ . Please fix the problem with "continual re-downloading of the same messages" ASAP, it is really a killing bug for my and my co-workers. Every one that I personally know of uses the "Leave messages on server for x days" option in their mail client.
Well, keep up the good work!
----------------------------------------------------
Jonathan Wilson
System Administrator
Cedar Creek Software http://www.cedarcreeksoftware.com
Central Texas IT http://www.centraltexasit.com
Hi,
1) The re-downloading the messages shouldn't happened.
The messages UID are in the $AETHERA/internal/rcvuids, please check if this file is not empty. If it isn't empty, please remove it and try it again.
Because Aethera hasn't a stable release the usual way is to leave the messages there (safe). But I didn't get bugs in the POP3 protocol and the option will be functional soon.
We are not using any KMail code.
2) 3) 4) 5) 6) and 7) will come after the new UI will be ready.
Sorry but the old UI isn't not good and it will not be fixed.
8 a) and b) I will solved asap.
There are some changes in the sources, the sources will be available again after I will make some fixes.
I understand very well your message, I really like such mails :)
Thanks!
Eug