OT Thunderbird news reader menu function buttons

That does not sound good for a blind person either. They rely on legends for the screenreader to read. I will never know why software writers decide to change stuff that works and make it not work for some odd reason.

I mean, Microsoft had a perfectly good email client in Outlook Express, instead of developing it for more security and configurability each email and news program since then has reduced the feature set and made it almost inaccessible to the blind without a script file written for it, and abandoned newsgroup features as well, when to my mind, they could have left it in. Brian

I gave up trying to get the plug-in to work (hence numerous NG messages back to the poster)

I have only just noticed that "Followup" has come back, so I guess mine upgraded automatically.

, so id guess you have to

Yes my fonts went all over the place, but *seem* to be OK now

Has shown no signs of wanting to auto upgrade here yet...

Yes, I did notice how much longer it takes to load now and also my end-of-month backup backed up a whole load of new files associated with thunderbird that I hadn't been aware of previously, including a file with 'sql' as part of its name.

But it's free, which is all that matters to many people.

I wish I had stuck with Demons email+newreader that I had back in 'TAM' days.

Sometimes with code it takes longer to understand what is written than to write it in the first place. Managers and code "owners" tend to focus on the investment they have made in the source code and underestimate the investment they have made in the knowledge/learning of the software developers who wrote the code.

This leads to unrealistic estimates of how long a new feature will take to add. New/unfamiliar developers then cut corners to try to meet expectations.

I guess it is easier to market new features than it is performance.

Intellij idea was the application I really noticed it with recently. It just seemed to get slower, I couldn't even see that there was much new functionality.

FWIW I stopped updating thunderbird at 68.12.1 and have had very few worries since.

I remember an Ex GF COBOL and BASIC programmer being asked to modify a huge suite of BASIC accounts software: Her response was to buy a roll of plain wall paper and flow chart the whole thing and pin it on the wall, before she would touch a single line.

In the end it saved everyone huge amounts of time

What I cannot understand is why in fact new features are needed in basic programs. Especially if its freeware like Thunderbird.

Back in the day around 2000 Eudora was basically all I ever needed as an email program.

Sadly it didn't run on linux, so thunderbird it was. I have spent tow whole effing days trying to make v 78 i as simple and attractive and usable as it used to be 10 years ago...

The only extra thing it has is a calendar.

I think what I hate most is the modern trend for black and white icons WTF is the point of a colour computer?

I've installed JOE on my computer. Wordstar in a text terminal.

I'm still using Turnpike for news:-)

Mail got a bit tricky (W explorer demise) but there are workarounds for the knowledgeable. (demon.ip.support.turnpike)