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Join testing of brand new email client

5 points by scailer ↗ HN
Scailer, the brand new email desktop application for Windows and Mac, announced today that it wants more freelancers or small business owners to download and test its software for free – with no enrollment obligation at the end of the trial.

First 100 users provided feedbacks get unlimited version for free.

Scailer’s patent-pending software includes an unprecedented encryption that provides the highest levels of email security and virus protection.

Even if someone were to copy your database, they couldn’t use another program – or even another instance of Scailer – to read it.

Read more here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/832575

15 comments

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dnh44
I'm sorry but I'm going to provide negative feedback here which I feel kind of guilty about because clearly a lot of work has gone into building this.

The first thing I didn't like is that from the photos on your website it didn't look like it has a mac-like UI.

I downloaded it anyway to have a look and then noticed the application is 460 megabytes. Mail.app and MailMate are each only 28mb. I'm guessing a web based technology was used to build the app which also means that it's going to run really slow on one of my older Macs.

Finally when I launched the app the first thing it did before even opening a window was ask me for my admin password in order to make a modification to my keychain. I clicked cancel at that point and the program didn't open.

scailer
Thank you for the opinion. Scailer has unique design that improves user’s experience in email. We decided that Scailer should look same on both platforms.

Regarding performance of the application on the old Mac, if you try it on and give us feedback, it will be really appreciated. We tested it on really slow PC and it works normally.

Regarding the keychain. Keychain is aimed to store an encrypted data. MacOS prevents other applications from accessing keychain data of other applications. Scailer uses own isolated keychain to store encryption keys to protects user’s data from 3d-party access. Scailer stores database encryption key in user’s keychain and license encryption key in system keychain. When Scailer adds an encryption certificate in system keychain, MacOS asks user to allow Scailer to do that. It will not allow Scailer to read keychain data of other applications, system or user. MacOS only allows the particular application to read keychain data created by that particular application. Using system keychain allows all users of the same Mac to use the same Scailer license.

demygale
Some feedback. Link directly to your site. A pr.com url looks scammy and unprofessional (to me).

There’s no mention of pricing. I know it’s in beta but products that don’t make it super easy to find pricing are an instant no for me. I’m not even downloading.

Finally, the web page mentions “ethically sourced contacts”. It sounds like your mail client is going to store all of my contacts on your server. Putting the word “ethically” in front of this does not make it better. Why do you need my contacts on your server? Do the messages pass through your server? There’s no technical reason for this, so it just seems like data harvesting.

scailer
Thank you for the feedback about the web site. You are right, we will update our web site and put pricing information when it will be ready. Currently the application is in beta and free for use. Furthermore first 100 users provided feedback to the application will get a released version for free. Pricing will be easily affordable – about the price of a coffee for individuals or a client lunch for business users. You can find similar text on the web site.

Regarding “ethically sourced contacts”. Scailer finds an avatar and social profile links (linkedin, facebook) of a particular contact in the internet using the FullContact service as a data source. Scailer shows avatars of contacts in the left panel. That feature improves Scailer’s user experience. “Ethically” means that Scailer uses only public information: public avatars and public social profile links, and Scailer does not share that information to 3d-parties, and does not use it for advertisement. Scailer caches contact information retrieved from FullContact because of FullContact recommendation. Scailer does not store on any servers any link between email address of user and requested contact. You can find FullContact’s privacy policy here: https://www.fullcontact.com/privacy/privacy-policy/

Of course no messages are passed to the server. Scailer connects to a IMAP server (gmail, office365) using a secure channel and stores message cache in local encrypted database. It allows Scailer to work with old messages in offline mode as well as support other features like fast searching, message threading and others which improve Scailer's user experience, and at same time increase the application security. Due to strong encryption nobody will be able to read your data on your hard drive, for example if you lost it.

codingdave
> they couldn’t use another program – or even another instance of Scailer – to read it.

OK, but then what is the backup/restore plan in a DR scenario?

scailer
Thanks for your question. Scailer synchronizes data with email service provider (gmail, office365 whetever it is). If you even lost your laptop/computer, backup of your data will still be available on your IMAP server. Due to encryption nobody will be able to read data on a lost device. You can discover more frequently asked questions about Scailer here: https://scailer.com/faq
mikaelmello
Ethically-sourced information

Understand your contacts better by knowing their interests. Scailer ethically searches for information about your contacts – profiles, social media sites, etc. – and produces a 360-degree view

I'm sorry but the "ethically searches for information [...] and produces a 360-degree view" is very sketchy at first glance, making me question the "ethically" in it.

Also, why no Linux version? I've been looking for a mail client but that is a deal-breaker for me.

scailer
Thank you.

We have updated the web site. Scailer tries to find an avatar and social profile links (linkedin, facebook) of a particular contact in the internet. In order to do that, Scailer takes an email address of a particular contact and sends it to the FullContact service. If additional information is found, FullContact service returns contacts avatars and social profile links to Scailer. Scailer shows avatars of contacts in the left panel. That feature improves Scailer’s user experience. “Ethically” means that Scailer uses only public information: public avatars and public social profile links, and Scailer does not share that information to 3d-parties and does not use it for advertisement. You can find FullContact’s privacy policy here: https://www.fullcontact.com/privacy/privacy-policy/

We are working on Linux version. It will be ready in 2022.

youzzh
I installed and using scailer on windows. It looks great. After using scailer, gmail does not satisfy me with sorting emails. By me, having one thread for each recipient is killer feature of this product. Finding important emails from important people is much easier that on gmail. After using it I cannot stop wondering why other email clients do not do the same categorization? https://scailer.com/
scailer
Thank you. Scailer beta version is free forever and includes free updates until 2022. After we release the application, our annual subscription will take place. Scailer subscribers will receive quarterly software updates and other improvements. If you're one of the first 100 users to give us feedback, you'll get updates for free, forever!
kwbrayton
Just downloaded and installed Scailer on a Windows 10 PC. I was able to hook my Gmail account into it without any problems at all. When I attempted to add my Yahoo account, it didn't work. I would imagine Yahoo is still quite popular but it was not listed. I had to use Other Provider, which is fine, except that it didn't work. It eventually threw the error: Cannon connect to SMTP Server. SMTP server replied with status 535: 5.7.0 (#AUTH005) Too many bad auth attempts. I tried the Manual way and all of the information pre-filled in the fields was exactly what the settings Yahoo suggests I use. Now to be fair, I had this same problem while attempting to test another email client.
kwbrayton
After a bit of investigation, I came across this Yahoo information: https://help.yahoo.com/kb/generate-manage-third-party-passwo...

Yahoo now requires that you general a one-time use password for each unique client. Once I created that one-time password and used the Manual way of adding an account, I was able to successfully add Yahoo to my accounts. May I suggest that you add an FAQ about this to your FAQ page. And if you add Yahoo as one of your Account Providers, perhaps a link to the FAQ could be included with the icon for Yahoo. Or something like that.

kwbrayton
If I right-click on an email message to delete it, the right-click menu says "Remove". If I right-click on a Group (still trying to understand how Groups work!), it says Delete. They are both using the same icon. Is that by design or should they both say "Delete". I'm not used to using "Remove" to delete an email message. But if that's not a true delete function, then perhaps the use of Remove is more appropriate. It just seems to me they should both be Delete. Picky, I know!
scailer
Thank you very much for your feedback! Automatic groups are a key concept of Scailer and a thing (along with other features) that makes Scailer more easy-to-use than a ordinary email client. We will investigate a better solution and apply it to the one of next builds! Please enjoy using Scailer and provide more feedback to our email address support@scailer.com. Also if you have questions. If your trial expires, let us know and we will give you unlimited access to the updates and new versions.
kwbrayton
Sill trying to wrap my head around how Scailer organizes email messages by groups. Bit of a challenge for me!

I noticed as I was clicking down the Group icons on the left side that if a group had messages in it, the right hand view pane would automatically fill with with the top email message in that group. But when a group was empty, the right hand pane did not display an empty pane. It just leaves the pane showing the last email viewed. I think the pane should go blank if the group is empty.