Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition 3 Beta 2 Released

John T. Haller's picture
Submitted by John T. Haller on March 16, 2009 - 2:03pm

Thunderbird logoMozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition 3 Beta 2 has been released in English, Italian, German, French, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. It's the latest test release of the upcoming Mozilla Thunderbird 3 email client bundled with a PortableApps.com launcher as a portable app, so you can take your email with you. It's also a great way to test out all the new features of version 3 without affecting your existing Thunderbird installation. This release updates Mozilla Thunderbird to 3 Beta 2 and has an improved launcher and installer. It's packaged in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. And it's open source and completely free.

Read on for more details...

What's New in Thunderbird 3 Beta 2

Thunderbird 3 Beta 2 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 platform including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, web compatibility, and code simplification and sustainability.

There are over 340 changes in this release, many laying the groundwork for future changes.

New In This Release

The included Thunderbird has been updated to 3 Beta 2 (release notes). The launcher and installer have been updated. As with other tests, it will install alongside your current Thunderbird Portable installation in a ThunderbirdPortableTest directory by default. You can distinguish it in the PortableApps.com Menu by hovering over it to see the version number. You can right-click on it to rename it to 'Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition Beta' or another name if you prefer.

PortableApps.com Installer / PortableApps.com Format

Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition is packaged in a PortableApps.com Installer so it will automatically detect an existing PortableApps.com installation when your drive is plugged in. It supports upgrades by installing right over an existing copy, preserving all your email and settings. And it's in PortableApps.com Format, so it automatically works with the PortableApps.com Suite including the Menu and Backup Utility.

Download

Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition is available for immediate download from the Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition 3 Beta 2 homepage. You can get the German, French, Italian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese releases from the Localization page. Get it today!

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Comments

John T. Haller's picture

John T. Haller

March 16, 2009 - 4:28pm

The links on the localization page were right but there was a typo in the link from the main page. Thanks.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Tried to upgrade my 2.009 installation and the resultant app won't launch. Starts, gets the initial screen and then nothing...

Anyone else reporting this issue??

J Neutron

March 16, 2009 - 8:11pm

I installed it BESIDE the existing installation, just like it wanted to do. I copied the contents of the \Data subdirectory from the existing into this one, and fired it up.

Seemed to work just fine, showed all my folders, went out for new mail from all my accounts, etc. One add-on didn't want to work because it specified an old max-version permissible.

If I were you, I'd back up your \Data subdirectory to somewhere safe, reinstall the old version, and hope everything still works. Then you can play with the Beta version in parallel to your primary version.

Jim

neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com

access128

March 17, 2009 - 5:31am

i install the portable TB 3 beta 2 in different dir.
and copy the portable TB 2 /data to replace the the portable TB 3 beta 2.
it will work.
if i install into portable TB 2 , the app can't startup.

problem 1:
open the old mail ,i can't see some mail sender address, just a "star" >_