Fastmail acquisition
Whiskers
Dear FastMail.FM User
We're writing to you to let you know about some exciting changes that
will be occurring with FastMail.FM. FastMail.FM has been acquired by
Opera Software, the developers of the Opera web browser. [...]
So presumably at some time, Operamail will be merged with Fastmail.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
Whiskers
> On Sat, 01 May 2010 03:00:02 +0100, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Interesting email from Fastmail:
>>
>> Dear FastMail.FM User
>>
>> We're writing to you to let you know about some exciting changes that
>> will be occurring with FastMail.FM. FastMail.FM has been acquired by
>> Opera Software, the developers of the Opera web browser. [...]
>>
>>So presumably at some time, Operamail will be merged with Fastmail.
>
> Some Fastmail staff are apparently being moved to Norway.
From Australia? I wonder how well that will go!
d4rkn1ght
wrote:
> On Sat, 01 May 2010 03:00:02 +0100, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Interesting email from Fastmail:
>>
>> Dear FastMail.FM User
>>
>> We're writing to you to let you know about some exciting changes that
>> will be occurring with FastMail.FM. FastMail.FM has been acquired by
>> Opera Software, the developers of the Opera web browser. [...]
>>
>> So presumably at some time, Operamail will be merged with Fastmail.
>
> I got that too. I'm a Fastmail user and also an Opera browser user.
> Some Fastmail staff are apparently being moved to Norway.
I've been a long time FastMail user as well! I've been keeping with these
great news in the FastMail forum.
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27
--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
Whiskers
Some strong opinions and precipitate actions going on there! I wonder how
many of those who say they are closing their Fastmail accounts instantly
even at the cost of forfeiting long-term paid subscriptions, will quietly
creep back over the next few months?
I've had a free 'Guest' account with Fastmail since February last year,
with no problems at all, and had been planning to upgrade some time soon -
and I still intend to.
Whiskers
> On Mon, 03 May 2010 19:11:50 +0100, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>On 2010-05-03, d4rkn1ght <nos...@nospam.null> wrote:
>>> On Sat, 01 May 2010 06:13:10 -0400, Ian Anderson <an...@127.0.0.1.invalid>
>>> wrote:
[...]
>>> I've been a long time FastMail user as well! I've been keeping with these
>>> great news in the FastMail forum.
>>>
>>> http://www.emaildiscussions.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27
>
> I had a quick look at some of the posts in the above forum.
>
>>Some strong opinions and precipitate actions going on there! I wonder how
>>many of those who say they are closing their Fastmail accounts instantly
>>even at the cost of forfeiting long-term paid subscriptions, will quietly
>>creep back over the next few months?
>
> I think you're spot on there, I reckon they will at least sneak back and
> have a look. ;-)
>
> Opera do a pretty good job with their browser so there's probably no
> reason to think they will make a mess of "Fastmail", particularly as
> they seem to be retaining some of the current Fastmail staff.
[...]
I can understand people being worried about an email service being taken
over by a larger outfit already heavily involved in providing email
services; so if Fastmail had been swallowed by Microsoft or Yahoo or
Google, or even one of the smaller companies, things wouldn't look too
good for Fastmail. But Opera have never really tried to provide an email
service - 'Operamail' has always been outsourced and never given much
publicity, and until very recently didn't even have an effective spam
filter or much by way of mail-management tools. So Opera aren't looking
to eliminate competition.
Whiskers
> On Tue, 04 May 2010 14:32:56 +0100, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com>
> wrote:
[...]
> I'm hopeful it will all go well, I'm not about to close my Fastmail
> account, I'm hopeful the Fastmail will expand but I don't really need
> any more than they currently offer.
I can imagine some people finding it useful to be able to use webmail via
Opera Mini, for example. I gather that Fastmail had some projects of
their own 'on hold' for lack of resources, so perhaps with Opera's support
they'll be able to develop those. Opera's expertise in HTML etc could be
useful in refining Fastmail's webmail interface and offering greater
choice to the users.
>>Operamail' has always been outsourced and never given much
>>publicity, and until very recently didn't even have an effective spam
>>filter or much by way of mail-management tools. So Opera aren't looking
>>to eliminate competition.
>
> Even though I always use Opera browser I've never looked at their email
> and didn't realise it was outsourced. I've used Eudora since Ver 2.2,
> now using Ver 7.1.0.9 which will be their last version apparently.
Just for the sake of clarity - 'Operamail' the webmail service is what
Opera outsource; 'M2' the email etc client built into the browser is of
course all their own thing.
Eudora is a well-known stand-alone email client, which recently changed
from a commercial product to a Free and Open Source project in conjunction
with Mozilla Thunderbird <http://www.eudora.com/betas/>; so it looks as
though "the Eudora user experience" continues :))
Both M2 and Eudora should work perfectly well with Fastmail, and with the
'Premium' (paid for) version of Operamail. (But I use Claws Mail).
Ken Knox
wrote:
> Both M2 and Eudora should work perfectly well with Fastmail, and with the
> 'Premium' (paid for) version of Operamail.
I think the 'Premium' (paid for) version of Operamail is gone...Mine
lapsed and now there is no mention of being able to reinstate it on their
site...nor it there any mention of it at all on their site. Maybe Opera
will move that all over to Fastmail. That sounds real good to me!!! :-)
--
Ken Knox
Opera 10.10.1893
Ken Knox
Another anomaly I just found with Operamail is that the address book no
longer works properly :-(
Whiskers
> On Wed, 05 May 2010 11:34:28 -0300, Ken Knox <nob...@nowhere.gov> wrote:
>> On Wed, 05 May 2010 09:01:25 -0300, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Both M2 and Eudora should work perfectly well with Fastmail, and with
>>> the
>>> 'Premium' (paid for) version of Operamail.
>>
>> I think the 'Premium' (paid for) version of Operamail is gone...Mine
>> lapsed and now there is no mention of being able to reinstate it on
>> their site...nor it there any mention of it at all on their site.
Confirmed. I changed my Operamail account to free webmail-only quite some
time ago, even before I started posting with a Reply-To header. I can't
remember the last time I received a 'genuine' email to my Operamail
address.
>> Maybe
>> Opera will move that all over to Fastmail. That sounds real good to
>> me!!! :-)
>
> Another anomaly I just found with Operamail is that the address book no
> longer works properly :-(
<sigh> Probably related to the (un-announced?) move away from Outblaze
supplying the service. But the spam filter is a lot more effective than
it used to be.
I'd welcome the transfer of Operamail addresses to the Fastmail service.