Why do we still have no pro-grade email app for the mac platform?

Have you tried Apple's Mail? It's pretty good!

To long a rant. Post your comments here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

‘why hasn't anyone yet created a truly professional-grade email application? I honestly think there's a huge market for it, and I think a lot of people would be willing to spend $30-50 for an app that got it right.’

Yes, you are right. In our age, at the beginning of 3rd millennium, we really need a pro e-mail app.

This may not be the venue you are seeking for your "question and a rant." In any case have you tried Gmail? Thunderbird?

I wish people would stop jumping on the OPs use of the word "rant" (always ill-advised) and take seriously the point. If you don't have anything to add, just stay out of the thread.

I've tried Thunderbird, but went back to Mail because the interface was too busy and it sometimes didn't sync properly (thought that could have been due to early Lion issues).

In any case, I'm supportive of the OPs suggestion. I don't mind Mail that much, but I have often wondered every time there's a Mail update or an OS upgrade why its so feature-thin. My biggest 'wish' for Mail would be more flexible Rules and better archiving.

conejo61 wrote:

I own my own business (a couple of them, actually) and have spoken with a half dozen other guys in similar situations to me who are all mac-based, and all of us have the same mindset:

Pretty much a good way to corner the market. I run an Entertainment business and Apple's Mail has never yet let me down. I refuse to compromise it with any third party add ons though. Gets better each update of OSX. A dozen of my mates use nothing else.

Cheers

I agree completely; email applications on the Mac lag (and I agree with the OP's frustration with responses as well).

I also have settled on Mail with Mail ActOn and MailTags; this functionality should be incorporated into the OS. I actually like using Outlook in Win 7 better; it's super easy to connect files, contacts, email and other stuff right from one application. And Win 7 has better preview and tagging built in, better than QuickLook. On the server side we desparately need gmail to use tags, but I don't see that happening. I still prefer the labeling scheme it has over Apple's mail, however. But I also find that it confuses many users (labels vs folders).

There are also other applications that integrate email functionality, like SOHO Organizer, or Contactizer. Good, but not the email holy grail.

I'd like to see communications built into the Finder or system, which badly needs an overhaul. It hasn't changed much since the 90's and shows it. Communication, whether it be email, tweets, social media posts, sharing, etc, is such an integral function of all work you do on a computer it should be better, um, integrated into all applications. You should be able to send data from any application to others in a variety of formats without having to go into an email application. Sure, you can now do this to a certain extent with either built-in menu items or services, but it's clunky. For example, when you write something you can either "save" and write to disk somewhere, or "export" in a different format, or maybe "email." All of those choices should at least be part of one dialog; it's just as likely you want to email, post, share or tweet what you just wrote, so just having a "save" dialog is way outmoded.

So, yeah, somebody get on this.

Rob

Why do we still have no pro grade e-mail app for the Mac platform?

Since you are using Lion, it should be pretty clear that Apple is heading in the opposite direction.

Have you read some of the questions here in the forums about Mail? E-mail is perhaps the most thankless application there is. No company, big or small, wants to deal with e-mail. It is considered a service that should be free and have 100% uptime. My web hosting provider, Dreamhost, is one of the best. They stopped offering their own e-mail service years ago. Now they just provide re-branded Gmail. People's web sites would be down for hours and no one would notice. If their e-mail server went down for 11 minutes they would get flooded with support calls.

All of these problem apply to the client side as well. There are umpteen different e-mail clients and almost all of them are free. By your own admission, Apple Mail comes closer to the "pro" standard than anything. Just stand back when someone tries to compose an e-mail message with an image and tries to send it to three different people, each running a different vintage of Outlook. Outside of SPAM, e-mail volume is going nowhere but down. People are texting and tweeting and facebooking. What developer in their right mind would want to venture into this market?

Could you elaborate on these parts?

- integration with social media. Postbox does a nice job with this. Hit their info pane button and you see a nice summary of all the links and possible social media interactions available via that selected email

- integration with cloud-based file storage, and apps like Evernote, DevonThink, Omnifocus, etc

- integration with industry-standard archival practices. For example, integrate with MailSteward.

Apple Mail could be enhanced with plug-ins to perform some of these features. That would be a feasible project. A new e-mail application is a non-starter.

You might have better luck asking Postbox for additional features. It certainly sounds like Apple Mail does almost everything you want. It isn't reasonable to ask Apple to add features that 3rd parties are already providing those features. People don't like it when Apple adds a new, free feature that puts them out of business.

I don't see any problem with expecting people to use MailTags and MailSteward if they need that functionality.

Apple Mail could have additional features for social media interaction. Anything that avoids attachments would be a welcome add-on. There are some possibilities there.

Your complaints about the attractiveness of Apple Mail are your own. I'm quite happy with it.