Mac Mail 2.0

A couple of years ago, I decided to use a Mac for my e-mail machine. I also use it for web browsing, web site design, and other things. But, e-mail was my primary justification. After all, we develop Windows software. I evaluated the Mail program that came with Mac OSX, and decided that it was pretty good, so that's what I used. Other than it being a pretty boring name, I've liked it pretty well.

And now comes version 2, shipping with Tiger. I've been using it for a few days now -- some things I like, and others I don't.

1) It works, basically like it used to work, but it's a little better, in most regards.
2) My Address Book program, integrated with Mail, still has a problem. It must be the database, but I still don't know how to fix it. It works, as long as I don't do this one little thing...
3) I used to get a little one line message, telling me that Mail was connecting, receiving e-mail, or whatever. I had status, when it was busy retrieving stuff. It's all gone now, and I really miss it.
4) The buttons got moved. I really hate that. I think I can re-configure it, but my "junk" button is in a different spot, and we all use our junk/spam buttons a lot.
5) The mailbox list looks better, but now I have to scroll. I know I have too many mailboxes, but this is an inconvenience that I could have done without.
6) The searching is great! Mail has the Spotlight searching built into it, and it works like a charm. I used to always have problems with searching a certain mailbox or the From/To field or whatever. Now, search does it all.
7) The new smart mailbox thing sounds cool, and I'm used to something like this in iTunes. But, it doesn't move the mail, it just groups it. Maybe I'm not thinking about it right, so I'm not sure if I like this feature yet.

Maybe it was too early for me to review Mail. Sometimes, I think it's harder to migrate from something old to something new. Mail 2.0 works well, it's just not a slam dunk for me. Not yet, anyway...