Zimbra Desktop

Will I be ditching other e-mail clients and switching over to using Zimbra Desktop full-time? In a word, no. Zimbra Desktop is a very nice e-mail client. It has the features I expect a modern client to have, it can handle multiple accounts easily, and everything is rolled up into a nice easy-to-install package. But being “just as good” as other e-mail clients is not enough to make me switch. Even the coolness of Zimlets is not enough.

The integration of Zimbra Desktop with the Zimbra Collaboration Suite is, naturally, very good, and if I were using ZCS as my primary mail server, the choice to use Zimbra Desktop would be obvious. I would. And, that is, I suppose, my final recommendation. If you are using ZCS, Zimbra Desktop lets you access your messages, contacts and calendars even when you're off-line (that's the promise, anyway), and you can use it for all of your other e-mail accounts too.

Even if you do not use ZCS, you still might want to give it a try. The download and install process is easy, and you'll be up and running quickly. I think you'll find, as I did, that alternatives, such as Evolution, Thunderbird or Gmail work equally as well, and that there is no compelling reason to move away from what you are already using—in which case, there is a nice uninstaller.

Figure 11. If Zimbra Desktop is not for you, there is a handy uninstaller located in the zimbra folder.

But, then again, maybe you'll love it and never want to use a traditional e-mail client again.