Thunderbird 3 Approaching – Linux Testers Wanted
While Firefox 3 basks in the glory of its download records, version 3 of Thunderbird is not yet complete.
This does not mean that the developers of the free email client have been idle. The alpha 1 with the trust-inspiring code name of "Shredder" has been available for downloading since mid May 2008.
Project leader David Ascher has announced in his blog that the project is looking for brave Linux users prepared to install Shredder on their disks. Although there are enough Mac and Windows testers, said Ascher, Linux testers are still wanted. They must fulfill four conditions: access to a – fairly average – Linux machine, experience with Thunderbird and Linux, and ideally a Bugzilla account, and a couple of hours of spare time. If you fit the bill, you can mail Ascher directly; his email address is listed on his blog site.
Thunderbird 3 Alpha 1 is based on the Gecko 1.9 platform – like Firefox 3 – and includes a new add-on manager that gives users the ability to download and install plugins. Searches against message texts produce less false positives and are also more accurate I multi-lingual environments. After some work on the Javascript engine Thunderbird 3 is now faster than before. For more details on changes and improvements, see the changelog.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.