Thunderbird plans "Thundermail" email and other services

Ryan Sipes has announced
efforts to expand Thunderbird's offerings with web services to
'enhance the experience of using Thunderbird'.

The Why for offering these services is simple. Thunderbird loses users
each day to rich ecosystems that are both clients and services, such
as Gmail and Office365. These ecosystems have both hard vendor
lock-ins (through interoperability issues with 3rd-pary clients) and
soft lock-ins (through convenience and integration between their
clients and services). It is our goal to eventually have a similar
offering so that a 100% open source, freedom-respecting alternative
ecosystem is available for those who want it.

The planned services include hosted email, appointment scheduling,
a revival of Firefox Send,
and (of course) an AI assistant based on a partnership with Flower AI. The AI features will
'always be optional for use by people who want them'. Sipes is
managing director of product for Thunderbird's parent organization, MZLA
Technologies Corporation. LWN covered his
GUADEC 2024 keynote last July.