Aral Balkan

If I haven't gotten back to you recently by email, there's a reason: Opera. More, specifically, Opera's email client, M2 (also known as Opera Mail.) But let's start at the beginning...

It was three days ago when -- goodness knows what -- something made me download the latest Opera browser. I think it was because I'm so happy with the mobile version on my phone. In any case, one look at its integrated email client, M2, and I was hooked. Love at first sight!

Why?

No folders :)

Everything in M2 is kept in a central database and you define searches (think of them as views) that update with relevant emails. You also have a slew of filters, etc. Well, I was so impressed that I switched pretty much on the spot and shelled out a few bucks for what seemed like an amazing integrated browser/email client. Boy was I wrong!

You see, the way M2 *should* work is great! The marketing hype is outstanding. The thing you learn later, however, when browsing the support forums, is that the M2 mail client has a slight flaw: It doesn't work.

What doesn't work? The main feature: Search. Oh, yes, and IMAP support. Our main info email account at Ariaware is setup for IMAP access via multiple clients. Well, M2 ruined it. After accessing it with M2, we suddenly got about 62 messages that we couldn't delete and would come up as new every time the account was checked (on every client.) Oh boy! The server techs told us they couldn't do anything either -- basically, we were faced with the task of backing up the store and recreating it. Lots and lots of fun! Apparently, they're rewriting IMAP support from the ground up for Opera version 8. Little consolation.

I still love the browser but the email client, well, beware!

My advice to Opera would be: Remove it from an otherwise excellent product and only put it back when it works to a point where it's not corrupting IMAP stores and its fundamental feature (search) works correctly. As much as I love the promise of M2, Opera would be a better product without it.

I hope our email will be back to normal tomorrow and I will be continuing to use my old trusty double-tag team: Thunderbird + X1 Search for my indexing. Btw, I read that Google Search now supports Thunderbird so that would be an option for those of you who don't want to shell out for X1.