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This article is part 4 of an ongoing series of articles on this site comparing Apple Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" to Red Hat Linux Fedora Core 4 (FC4). (The previous article is here.) The point of this comparison is not to say that one OS or the other is "better" but rather to point out the differences and indicate where an artist who previously used Mac OS X 10.4 would find Linux to be easier, harder, or the same to use as the Mac. See the introduction article for more information and links to the other articles in the series. Although the focus of this series is on the needs of designers, artists, and content creators, the content should be relevant to any number of Mac users or Linux users. This time around we'll look at the bundled email clients. In the case of OS X, the bundled client is Apple's "Mail" software. On Red Hat, it's Ximian Evolution. Because there is a fair amount of overlap between the two applications, I'm not going to go through a blow-by-excruciating-blow discussion of their functionality which is identical. Instead, I'll try to focus on the differences.
If I don't cover a particular feature or function, you should assume that I either missed it somehow or that both Mail and Evolution provide approximately the same capabilities and implementation. (For example, if I don't tell you that in both products clicking the "Send" button will transmit your email to its destination, you can assume that both do the same thing - or assume I missed the concept in my review... In this example, the first one is definitely correct. In other cases it might be something I overlooked unintentionally or because it seemed irrelevant.) Evolution Does More than Apple Mail One very blatant and significant difference between Mail and Evolution is their "non-Mail" functionality. Apple's Mail application is tightly focused on getting, storing, and sending email. It doesn't include a calendar, task list, or any other "not quite email" functionality. Evolution, on the other hand, is more like the Exchange Server version of Microsoft Outlook, incorporating not just email but Calendar, Contacts, Calendars, and Tasks. 
The Evolution User Interface
Just because Mail doesn't do these things doesn't mean Apple has overlooked them. Apple provides "Address Book" with OS X to handle the "Contacts" functionality, and iCal to handle the "Calendar" functionality. However, there is no built-in functionality in OS X 10.4 that I can find which replicates the "Tasks" functionality in Evolution. So, in terms of pure functionality, Evolution outshines Apple's Mail (and the rest of that suite) by offering the additional "Tasks" function.  Apple's Mac OS X "Mail" GUI 
Apple's iCal Calendaring Software in Mac OS X 10.4 
Apple's Address Book Application
Mail does have a much cleaner user interface than Evolution because it doesn't include those extra features within itself. The flip side of this cleanliness is that you have to open multiple programs to work with Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks at the same time with OS X.
All that functionality is for nothing if the Evolution software is too hard to work with. Fortunately, I didn't find that to be the case at all. Configuring Evolution to access my personal email account with my ISP was as easy as with Apple Mail. Apple iCal versus Evolution's Calendar Apple's iCal client supports calendars stored on their ".Mac" internet service as well as "private servers" that support it. Evolution's Calendar functionality doesn't support .Mac, but does support Microsoft Exchange Server 2000/2003, Novell GroupWise, and there are projects underway to support other servers such as the "OpenGroupware.org" server. Apple's Address Book allows synchronization with .Mac, Microsoft Exchange "Outlook Web Access" (OWA), and LDAP. There are options to adjust the display of contact information by first/last name, sorted by first or last name, using U.S. or international address formats, and adjusting font sizes. Contacts can be automatically notified if your personal contact information changes. You have a fair amount of control over how the contact information is displayed on-screen. It supports the import and export of vCards in v2.1 and v3.0 formats. It can import LDIF and text files containing contact information. Address Book can also share your contacts with other Mac users via the .Mac service. Address book supports Groups and "Smart Groups" of contacts. It can backup your address book information and remove duplicate entries. Evolution's Contacts functionality allows synchronization with LDAP, but does not appear to synchronize with .Mac or Exchange OWA (in v2.4). There doesn't appear to be a lot of functionality for changing the display of contact information. Automatic notification when your personal contact information changes does not appear to exist within Evolution. Contact information can be imported from vCards and LDIF files. Contact information can be shared with other LDAP users. Evolution supports grouping and categorization of contacts, as well as the creation of "Contact Lists" that allow the combination of contacts across categories and groups. There is no built-in function for backing up contact information. Comparing the two, Apple's Address Book synchronizes with 3 services (.Mac, Exchange OWA, and LDAP) while Evolutions supports only LDAP and Exchange OWA. Apple's display of Address Book information is more customizable and "Rolodex-like" than the Contacts display in Evolution. Apple can import contact information in plain text files, which Evolution apparently does not do. However, Evolution can import contacts from other contact management tools, which Apple's Address Book does not appear to do. Apple's Address Book has a slight advantage in terms of the synchronization with .Mac, flexibility of contact information display, and import from plain text files. Evolution has the advantage of being able to import information from other contact management tools, and appears to be more flexible in allowing contacts to be grouped together. If you need synchronization with .Mac, then you will have a problem initially adjusting to Linux. (However, if you are switching to Linux, chances are you'll want to abandon .Mac eventually anyway, so this is a minor issue.) If you need synchronization with an LDAP server, then it comes down to whether you like Evolution's more-flexible grouping features or Address Book's more traditional rolodex-looking interface. Apple's iCal versus Evolution's Calendar Apple's iCal display is something like a paper planner layout. It can be configured to show 5 or 7 days per week, to start a week on a specific day, to start or end the day at a specific time, and to show 6-24 hours of calendar information at a time. iCal can synchronize with the .Mac service. It can handle time zone changes automatically, and will automatically hide to-do items and events based on certain criteria. Event invitations can be sent from within Apple Mail. Calendar information can be imported from iCal files, vCal files, or Microsoft Entourage, and exported in iCal format. Evolution's calendar display allows you to view calendar information by day, work week, calendar week, month, or listing. You can also select arbitrary ranges of days if you need something more custom. Evolution allows the scheduling of appointments and meetings. Appointments involve just yourself, while meetings involve other people. Reminders can display something on screen, play a sound to grab your attention, and/or run a specific program for you. Appointments can be "classified" to determine who is permitted to view it. You can send meeting invitations and accept/decline or "tentatively accept" them. You can coordinate schedules in a "free/busy" view to see when you might be able to setup a meeting. Schedules can be synchronized with an Exchange OWA server or a Novell GroupWise server. Meetings can be delegated, multiple calendars setup, and shared calendars on the "icalshare.com" web site can be accessed. Both iCal and Evolution calendars are easy to work with. Different people will probably find one or the other easier to use, but I found both equally easy. Evolution's calendar display is more flexible and customizable than Apple's Address Book, and its reminder options are more extensive as well. Evolution offers more than Apple's calendar does overal, so a Mac user switching to Linux shouldn't have a problem in this regard.
Evolution's Task List versus Apple's iCal "To Do" List Apple's iCal software contains a To Do List functionality. To Dos can be categorized as completed (or not), priority, due date, the calendar to which they belong, and a URL they're associated with (on .Mac I suspect). Notes can be added to explain the To Do item. Evolution's Task List items can be categorized by status, group, classification, starting date, and ending date. Tasks can include a summary describing what needs to be done. For online tasks, the task can be associated with a URL. Functionality here is pretty comparable, though Evolution appears to do just a little bit more, so again I'd say that a user switching from OS X to Linux would find no serious deficiencies - and maybe a few benefits as well.
Evolution's Mail Functionality versus Apple's Mail Functionality Apple's Mail application supports .Mac email accounts, POP accounts, IMAP accounts, and Exchange OWA accounts. Outgoing mail can be sent to a specific server, specific port, optionally use SSL, and support password exchange via cleartext, MD5 Challenge-Response, Kerberos v4/5, and NTLM. Messages can be automatically erased from the Sent items when they reach a certain age or left there indefinitely. Junk mail can be identified and placed in a specific folder, and automatically deleted when it reaches a certain age (or be kept indefinitely). The Trash can be automatically deleted when it reaches a certain age, when Mail is exited, or kept indefinitely. Mail can be left on the server or removed when read. Fonts used to display and compose messages can be specifically configured, and quoted text can be automatically colored differently in forwards or replies. For .Mac "buddies", their online status can be displayed automatically. Messages can be composed in Rich Text or plain text. LDAP can be used to automatically complete email addresses. Signatures can be applied based on the account you're using. Rules can be used to highlight, move, delete, etc., incoming mail. Using built-in functionality and Spotlight, mail can be searched to locate specific messages.
Evolution's Mail functionality supports Novell GroupWise, Microsoft Exchange, IMAP, IMAP4rev1, POP, Usenet News, and "local delivery". Outgoing email can be sent using the "sendmail" program or SMTP. Outgoing mail can be sent to a specific port, optionally use SSL, and support password exchange via cleartext, NTLM/SPA, GSSAPI, DIGEST-MD5, CRAM-MD5, and "POP before SMTP". Mail can be organized into folders inside the Inbox. Evolution allows you to encrypt email with GPG or S/MIME when you send it, to prevent interception in transit. It allows email to be imported from Microsoft Outlook Express .mbx format and Berkeley Mailbox (.mbox) format (used by Mozilla, Netscape, Evolution, Eudora, and other email clients). It can scan for Junk mail and automatically place it in a specific folder. Rules can be used to highlight, move, delete, etc. incoming mail. Search folders that work similarly to Apple Spotlight folders can be established to group related messages together, but unlike Apple's Spotlight folders, these will include only email. One-time searches can also be performed. Evolution can compose email in ASCII, Unicode, and non-latin alphabets. Messages can be composed in plain text and HTML formats. Email addresses can be automatically completed using a "smart text" type functionality and the existing address book. Apple's Mail client supports Kerberos, while Evolution's apparently does not. However, Evolution supports "POP before SMTP" and GSSAPI, which Apple's client does not. Evolution also supports more types of incoming mail servers as well as the ability to use "sendmail" for outgoing mail. Evolution supports mail encryption, and can import mail from a variety of clients. Messages can be composed in HTML and plaintext in Evolution, while Apple supports plaintext and Rich Text format. Both have flexible rules and Junk mail filtering. I haven't tested either program's spam filters yet, but I intend to do so soon. Unfortunately, Apple's Mail client doesn't seem to be able to pull any mail from my ISP's server, so until I sort out why that is, I can't test its POP/SMTP functionality. My ISP also prefers the "POP before SMTP" authentication mechanism, which doesn't appear to be supported in Apple Mail. So, for me personally, Apple's Mail client isn't a great tool. Your mileage, of course, will vary.
In terms of pure email functionality, Evolution supports more types of servers and authentication than Apple's Mail client. It provides the ability to encrypt messages for privacy. The only significant additional features in Apple's Mail client are the Spotlight search technology (which Evolution offers something of similar but lesser capability), support for ".Mac" email (which you wouldn't likely need or want if you were running Linux), Kerberos authentication, and automatic deletion of old mail messages (though you could emulate this with rules in Evolution). Evolution is More Than an Acceptable Substitute
If you were a Macintosh user switching to Linux, about the only thing you might miss going to Evolution on Linux would be access to your ".Mac" mail or access to a Kerberos-authenticated server. Aside from that, both clients offer comparable functionality and features. Evolution, on the whole, is a bit more flexible and capable of working with a variety of different environments that Apple Mail doesn't appear to support out of the box. Apple retains a small functionality edge with Spotlight searches and a slighly prettier (and less cluttered) user interface, but I'm confident that a Mac user could make the switch fairly quickly. Apple chose to keep Mail, Calendar, and Address Book functionality separate. While I would argue that this makes for a more cumbersome environment (Since I often find myself setting up meetings based on incoming email and checking the address book before sending something, it's nice to have them all integrated like Evolution and Microsoft Outlook. But I can appreciate Tim Gaden's http://www.timgaden.com/hawkwings/ point that when you're working with Mail, it's nice to see "just mail", and when you're working with your calendar it's nice to see "just the calendar".) Evolution's design choice to keep mail, calendar, tasks, and contacts in one place makes more sense to me (and would be more familiar to Mac users who run Microsoft Outlook or Entourage, while more "cluttered" those familiar with Apple's way of doing things). In a corporate environment where I needed to interface with a Microsoft or Novell server, I would rather use Evolution than Apple Mail (especially if the corporate server administrators disable Outlook Web Access on the server for security reasons, since Apple relies on that for some functionality). In a home setting, where I needed to interface with only a POP server, I'd probably prefer Mozilla's Thunderbird email client. Regardless, I don't think email would be a deal-breaker for a Mac user considering the switch to Linux. The functionality's there in Red Hat FC4 and it's at least as good as what Apple is offering, and perhaps even a fair amount better. Next time around, we'll be looking at disk management utilities.
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