New sonic.net webmail application

[thulsa_doom]

So, will shell access to my email still be unchanged?

Nothing about this change will affect our shell server. We're looking to transition away from old webmail interfaces. Pine (and mutt, and others) will be untouched.

[jhs]

What do you expect people to do with iPads and other touch screens?

[forum_visit]

Kelsey, John, and other Sonic staff:

Please add this long-time Sonic customer to the list of people who prefer the simplicity of Squirrel mail, even if the interface is unattractive.

A few reasons:

- Email loads quickly and easily, no matter the location, the device, or the connection quality.

- Subject lines of hundreds of emails are visible on one Squirrel screen, whether the user is reading on a tablet or on a 15" desktop monitor. This is an incentive to clean out the inbox regularly.

- No horizontal scrolling is needed.

- Routing mail through Gmail, Yahoo, or other services seems an unnecessary step. Sonic = Sonic seems like the simplest way to go. Not fond of Outlook, Thunderbird, or other mail-reading programs; Squirrel on the web works best for me.

- I don't have time to learn what it means to use Pine on shell or how to set that up. BTW, thanks to forum writers who included links about how that works. Now to find a geek friend to walk me through it, or perhaps Sonic-approved documentation to show users how to set that up.

As many others here have said, Squirrel is simple to use. I like it and have grown accustomed to its ugly little face.

Please keep Squirrel mail alive and keep improving the newest interface for those who want to use it. Thanks.

GD

[csardas]

So, will shell access to my email still be unchanged?

Nothing about this change will affect our shell server. We're looking to transition away from old webmail interfaces. Pine (and mutt, and others) will be untouched.

That is great! Thanks for the verification!

Paul

[thulsa_doom]

What do you expect people to do with iPads and other touch screens?

I believe the initial expectation was that you'd use your iPad's mail client with its click Apple-designed interface and feature set. The feedback we've received from touchscreen users is under consideration.

- Subject lines of hundreds of emails are visible on one Squirrel screen, whether the user is reading on a tablet or on a 15" desktop monitor. This is an incentive to clean out the inbox regularly.

You can set the number of messages to display in Settings->Preferences->Mailbox View. It tops off at 200.

- No horizontal scrolling is needed.

This is something we're looking to address.

- I don't have time to learn what it means to use Pine on shell or how to set that up. BTW, thanks to forum writers who included links about how that works. Now to find a geek friend to walk me through it, or perhaps Sonic-approved documentation to show users how to set that up.

I don't expect us to ever have shell mail client documentation up. It's beyond the scope of our support staff training.

[tevis]

I'd like to keep the old method, which was just fine. The new interface is unnecessarily complicated; I don't like the panes, and they require too much scrolling. Please give us the option to use older generic mail, which displays much better on my pc win7.

[ajhaig]

Well, I do like the new webmail interface.
I also appreciate a challenge to learn new stuff - otherwise I might end up braindead. Anyway, I'm sure this forum isn't populated by ALL the users of Sonic's web-based email; the few who are so disgruntled can't claim to represent the majority.
Stand firm Mr. Architect.

[lr]

Comments from my wife regarding the new web-based e-mail: "It's even slower than the old one. Not usable in the afternoon". And "It is a lot like outlook - it wastes most of the screen real estate."

The "slow" comment I have to explain: We live in an area where internet speed is variable, and at times pretty slow; when lots of neighbors are watching netflix or similar internet media streams, out speed drops to a few hundred kilobit per second. That's the nature of the beast in our geography (the nearest DSL, cable-modem or fiber is several miles away). In an area like that, wasting bandwidth is a really Bad Thing (tm).

My wife can unfortunately not switch her Sonic mail to an IMAP-based interface; for convenience, she uses her company-owned laptop for everything, and she can't mess with the mail installation on it. Meaning she has to use the web-based interface to get to her personal mail. I have about a half dozen spare laptops at home, but I'd have to force her to use two separate laptops to get her off a web-based mail system. Clearly, an IMAP-based system with local caching would be more bandwidth efficient, and the users would have the freedom to use the one they like best (for example, the one that wastes the least screen real estate), but that's not an option here. Which is why I care if Sonic forces a worse web-based e-mail system on us.

For me really it boils down to trying to find a delicate way of saying that Squirrelmail is old and ugly and embarrassing in 2013. We wanted to replace it eight years ago and a small but vocal minority vigorously objected. We conceded, and now we have seven distinct webmail interfaces to maintain and support (Squirrelmail, Nutsmail, four flavors of Atmail, and now Wundermail).

I have been an extremely happy Sonic customer, for many years (perhaps a decade or so). I have been recommending Sonic to everyone who slows down long enough to listen to me. To hear that Sonic will replace functioning and efficient web-based e-mail system with a different one because of "old and ugly and embarassing" is INFURIATING. And by the way, the shouting is deliberate.

You could have made a sensible argument that maintaining the old e-mail interface is too much work. In that case, my response would have been: feel free to charge us extra for it. Or you could study how you can reduce the number somewhat, and what sensible migration paths are. But that argument is not what is being made.

E-mail to Dane is going out, stating that if the new webmail becomes the only choice, and ATmail/Squirrelmail/Nutmail go away, we go away with it. I hope I've made myself clear, but I think you'll hear it clearly from your boss.

[lr]

I announced it, I am responsible for the decision, and have been here responding to questions and constructive feedback as best I can since I made the announcement. Keeping all of the old mail clients running is not an option that is on the table, sorry. We are, however, committed to providing the best customer experience that we can and plan on making continued improvements in the new client based on customer feedback.

Kelsey: I suggest that you discuss this decision with your boss (who has been alerted via sales). If the above paragraph remains the official line, there will be consequences to the number of happy customers.

[arla]

When I forward an email to another account, it comes out as text only. Any photo or other graphics elements, color, etc. are missing in the forwarded message. Is it me? Or can this be fixed? Thanks. ~Arla