What is Eudora 5?

We've all met Eudora. A solid and full-featured email program, it works flawlessly with nearly every email standard in cyberspace. So now that Qualcomm has released Eudora 5.0, the real question becomes whether we should upgrade to version 5.0 or switch from another email client. Cult Eudora users will upgrade regardless of what we say, but others may not find the new features compelling enough.

Installation was no sweat on our iMac DV. Upgrading from Eudora 4.2 was a seconds-long process, as you might guess. And now, you can easily import email from Microsoft Outlook Express 5.x. Still, whether you'll want to upgrade is another question.

The reason? Eudora 5.0 sports only one major new feature: Eudora Sharing Protocol (ESP). ESP lets multiple Eudora 5 users share documents (MP3s, digital pictures, word documents, and other file formats you can attach to an email) without a server. Eudora creates a folder on each user's hard drive.

Users can then add documents to this folder for others to share. Eudora automatically syncs all users folders with the most updated contents. We liked ESP for syncing files between our work and home computers, and it's an efficient way to manage shared documents among small groups, whether you’re sharing pictures with family or MP3s with friends — that is, unless all your group members don't use Eudora 5...

Eudora 5.0 does offer other minor improvements. This version has opted for muted, charcoal-sketched icons with a barnyard theme. Black and white pigs announce that you have new mail and a melancholy bunny tells you ifyourboxis empty. Cute icons aside, however, the clunky interface is largely the same. Opening multiple mailboxes still requires you to wade through a sea of windows. Another new feature, Moodwatch, rates high on amusement but low on usefulness. It monitors incoming and outgoing email messages for aggressive language and then rates the email with zero to three chili peppers (three being the most offensive). It's not hard to offend Moodwatch. Our email saying, “You suck!” earned us three chili peppers and a threat to wash our mouth out with soap. Yes, you can turn this off.

Also new and improved: a Statistics window that shows your peak email usage time forthe day, week, month, and year. Qualcomm has updated Eudora’s Address Book in version 5.0. You can store personal, home, work, and other contact information within Eudora. There's also a new notes field; the Improved Address Book is handy, but it won't replace your personal information manager by any means. Eudora has made some improvements to its already strong Filter and Search features. One feature noticeably missing is the Eudora Internet Suite for Palm OS handhelds. Windows users have the luxury of sending and receiving email via the Palm handheld. We, however, do not.

So yes, Eudora is still a solid email program, but if faces a lot of really good competition. When many people have free, easy access to Microsoft Outlook Express, it's hard to justify Eudora 5.0’s cost. For current Eudora users looking to upgrade, bad news — there’s no discounted upgrade price. ESP is a great new feature, but if you’re not interested, wait till the next version. The other features, while cute, aren’t worth the purchase price.

Rebbapragada, Narasu. (February 2001). Eudora 5. MacAddict. (pg. 51).

Download Eudora 5 for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 8.1

Compatibility notes

• PowerPC processor
• Mac OS 8.1 or later
• Network or Internet mail account that uses POP3 or IMAP4 protocol
• Access to e-mail account via TCP/IP network connection or via PPP dial-up networking through a modem

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver