[ale] AAAARRRRG! #@$%#$%$%^$% Don't upgrade K9 Mail!

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi JD,

Thanks to you and some others for the support.

I don't currently have root on this device so I don't have a comprehensive backup strategy.  It's on my list of projects.

I do have all the apk's backed up, which I do weekly with Astro File Manager.  I restored the apk within a few minutes, but unfortunately, the upgrade had altered the message database and the retrograde corrupted it.  All the messages are copied to my laptop, and many are still sitting on the server, so I can get them back.  But, the procedure is not pretty.

So, here's what I'm in the process of doing.

* delete all messages from the tablet
* compact the database
* reboot
* allow the tablet to download the last 1000 messages from the server
* spend lots of time deleting old messages I've already read
* compact the database
* spend more time "starring" certain messages that I do want to keep there but not right in front of me
* forward older but important messages from the laptop
* recheck the config settings on K9 to determine if anything was munged

Well, today is going to be fun (not).

I want to add a few more general comments to the discussion.  For the record, I'm one of the most paranoid and security conscious users you'll meet.  99% of all my stuff is kept up to date.  Many of the websites I go to break because I'm not running Java or Scripting.  (Javascript gets enabled only if I trust the site.)  I'm not on Facebook, because of potential security risks.  On the Windows side of the fence, routine AV scans occur.  I'm very particular about what emails I open and what links I click.  In the case of the tablet, only a subset of my total volume of email is forwarded to it.  Any potential "risk" of having me on the internet is about 100X less than that of the average user, guaranteed.

I've been drinking the always update koolaid (endorsed by Gibson, by the way) for some time.  I've been telling to my family and friends who will listen.  Family members' computers that I have influence over are on auto update.  My computers where I can afford to have spontaneous shutdowns are on auto update.  And, when I got the tablet, every app, which you can control individually, was on auto update.

However, there comes a point where I stop drinking the koolaid.  Any app, whether free or not, should do a couple of things.  It should perform its intended function.  It should be effective and efficient.  If a user is involved, it should interface with the user effectively and efficiently.

For me, K9 has been doing just that for 1.5 years.  It was filling my needs and I was happy with it.  But, when devs change things and they make the user interface less usable, or sometimes unusable, when they make things slower or less efficient, when they change fundamental functionality in a negative way, and when they introduce new bugs while perhaps fixing old ones; then I no longer drink the koolaid.

The K9 team's new "upgrade" does have some nice features.  However, there is evidence that it is both slower and more buggy.  Also, they made a critical change that (for me) makes the program DRAMATICALLY less usable.  That change is to force the user, without his / her choice, to now use two lines on the screen for every message in the master list, rather than one line.  I routinely have hundreds of messages in my inbox, and I've never figured out a way to make more folders than the standard ones in K9.  I use POP, not IMAP, because I want to be able to read messages when I'm away from wifi.  Even at one message per line, and with about 25 messages displaying on the screen at once, I have to do quite enough dragging and scrolling the screen as it is.  Now, with only 12 messages shown at once, it is simply unbearable.

So, I say no.  The devs have screwed up the usability of a good product.  So, the product gets retrograded, and it stays frozen.  That way, at least, I can actually USE my email client.

Is there an increased security risk by not updating it?  Yes.
Does that risk increase over time if an exploit is discovered that affects the old code?  Yes.
Would it be better to have a program that I AM updating? Yes.

However, getting that new program, if it even exists (K9 is supposed to be one of the best), is not easy.  I have 1.5 years of off and on time learning the UI, learning how to arrange and sort messages, learning how to create and edit sigs, learning how to have different sigs for each return address, learning how to have different return addresses for different mailing lists, etc. etc.  There would be a fairly painful learning curve migrating to a new client.  I will be considering it, but will likely be using the old version of K9 until I become aware of a reason not to..

This MESS will have already cost me a day of my time by the time it's done, time I could better spend on something else other than repairing a piece of technology that was already working for me.  I don't necessarily wish to spend more days of time migrating to another client.  I'm spending the time writing this message because I think it's important to have the discussion, that people know their K9 is about to change if they let it, and make their own decision about whether to allow that change.

Sincerely,

Ron



JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:

>Thanks for that heads up. K9 user here too.
>
>I don't auto-update anything on Android.  I was burned 1 day before a
>long
>international trip last year.  Many programs available in the US store
>aren't
>overseas. Being left with a non-working key program and know way to
>install from
>a backup when on travel sucks.
>
>Plus, with ADB, backups for the entire OS (except texts) is possible on
>4.x+
>Android. The container is even encrypted. It is possible to backup all
>APKs on a
>system separately using a different ADB option.
>
>Could the change be only for the tablet version? I'm hopeful.
>
>Half a day? That seems excessive. I'd believe 30 min, but I suppose
>that depends
>on your APK backup method.
>
>Anyway, good luck.
>
>
>On 07/08/2013 01:10 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
>> Warning, if you like the OLD one line per message format for K9 Mail
>for
>> android, DON'T UPGRADE.
>> 
>> Yet another program dev team REDESIGNS a WORKING user interface and
>MAKES IT
>> WORSE without giving the user a choice.
>> 
>> That makes 5 products now that have betrayed me, 7 if you count
>Windows 8 and
>> Ubuntu.
>> 
>> Now I have to spend half a day retrograding the program and set it to
>never
>> update again, if that's even possible!
>> 
>> You've been warned, but it may not be soon enough.
>> 
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--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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