eM Client

Whilst persevering with our never-ending seek for a reliable and worthwhile email client for Windows machines, we (for the second time) gave eMClient another go expecting good things of course, because it is paid software...

I found the software very slow at switching between emails making it unusable for business use but after reporting problems in their support forum and reaching out to them via Twitter, their customer support was appalling, in fact, I'd go as far as saying pretty much non-existent.

All I (and many other users) wanted was acknowledgment of the problem(s) and for someone to pipe up and say it is being addressed but no, literally nothing in the slightest.

They seem happy to continue charging for their software but don't want to look after their customers or even entertain the idea that there may be a problem.

On this basis alone, I'd strongly recommend avoiding buying and using this software.

eM client is definitely a great piece of software for Windows. Four-stars for the Windows version.
Not so much for MacOS -- at least not yet. They should at least refrain from charging users (read: "Paying beta testers") until they have polished the product a little bit. Two-stars for the MacOS version. 3-stars overall because I cannot review each separately.

As for the Windows side of things, although it is a great product, I've had several bad experiences with them. I don't know exactly how, but surely they are collecting user information and who knows what else in order to determine whom they feel should need to pay for the service. All of a sudden the "Free" license is remotely deactivated. And I found that a friend that I recommended the product to previously, had their laptop's license "revoked" because they had used my Internet connection while visiting.

I use router-based VPN connections for privacy on my personal network so it leaves me to believe that the activation process involves more than just a machine hardware hash as generally is the case.

It is not without its' issues as a product even on the Windows platform -- primarily I found that it was prone to random disconnects requiring closing the client and opening again.

I would be much more comfortable and willing to purchase the professional version if the licensing and software protection were from a third party. Otherwise, where does the developer draw the line between sniffing your e-mail to identify "business" usage, and privacy that is expected within one's email?

I'm still going to give it a go, but man, do I ever hate that shit.

The only alternative to Outlook that I could find with Exchange functionality, but unfortunately still a long way to go to replace it in a working environment. I found it slower than Outlook and somewhat unpolished. Uninstalled when I got back a reply from a partner asking why I was sending blank mail...