Why Is Mailbird Windows-Only?

In the beginning, there was Sparrow. A shining example of clean & minimalist email perfection.

The design induced a state of zen. The simplicity found us speeding through our inboxes. The learning curve was measured in mere minutes.

In Sparrow, Mac had found a paradise for those of us seeking to improve the beauty and productivity in our inboxes.

The only problem….we're Windows users.

And on Windows, that email paradise was…non-existent.

We've searched. We've tried Thunderbird, Outlook, Opera, Postbox, Dreammail, i.Scribe, eM, even just plain old Gmail with Offline sync.

But, though many of them were quite cool, none of them felt anything like Sparrow. They were either too cluttered, too slow, missing features we needed, or had too much of a learning curve.

And not one could compare in aesthetics.

It was time to make a choice: Either accept the mediocre email clients oqn Windows, and bemoan our fate…or create a new Gmail windows app that would equal - nay exceed! - the minimalistic beauty & productivity boosting ability of Sparrow.

I think we made the right choice. Mailbird would become the best Windows email app replacement known as a paradise as Sparrow had become Macs.

Then…Sparrow stopped.

Google bought Sparrow and, all of a sudden, Mac users were asking us when we would come over to their OS.

And they weren't alone. We've been chatting with our users and getting requests to go on Mobile & Linux ever since we began developing.

It happens at least once a day. We get an email or tweet or Facebook message from you guys asking when we'll go Linux or Mac or Mobile. Why aren't we already there?

I think it's about time we answered that question…

Reason 1: Windows is Under-served

When we began building Mailbird, there was no reason to go Mac. Mac already had Sparrow, while Windows could boast nothing of that caliber.

So, in the beginning, our goal was simply to solve that problem. To bring something at least as awesome as Sparrow to the world of Windows.

That reality may have changed since we started, and (I talk a bit more about this later in the post) there is a good chance that we will come over to Mac in the future, though we're not sure. Yet, for the time being, we began Windows only and we're committed.

Reason 2: Speed

Developing an app for multiple platforms is hard. And time consuming. And expensive. Had we chosen to go that route, Mailbird would be improving and updating a lot less frequently.

Instead, we chose the route of fast movement and frequent updates and re-iterations. Developing only on one platform allows us to quickly build Mailbird into the best email app in the world, and it helps us respond as speedily and often as possible to your suggestions, ideas, and feedback.

This reason and the next are also why we were Gmail only in the beginning (and worry not non-gmail users, Multi-account is on the way).

Reason 3: Integration

There's another big advantage to developing only on one platform: we get to fully integrate with it for a better user interface and more efficient performance.

For Windows, this means that we are able to integrate with the Windows taskbar better than most apps can, able to have universal keyboard shortcuts, and able to optimize Mailbird's speed and performance on Windows so that it moves as quickly and as resource-light as possible (though all the different hardware Windows uses presents some of it's own challenges here).

"Are you ever planning to bring Mailbird to mobile? Mac? Linux?"

In a word: Yes. Probably.

But it's not going to be for quite a while, and it will definitely be after we release Mailbird 1.0 out-of-beta and ensure that it is the most beautiful, easily useable, and productivity boosting email app for Windows.

If enough people want it & we have capital to make it happen, we will definitely make Mailbird Mobile, Mailbird Mac, and Mailbird Linux versions.

If you're waiting for Mailbird to come to your OS, it may take a while. But we've not forgotten about you.

If you've been wondering why we're Windows only, it's so that we can build Mailbird into the best email app in the world, before tackling the challenges of bringing it to new platforms.