I used to hate Thunderbird. Is it better now?

This post is for people who've used the Mozilla Thunderbird email program, and are fairly demanding. Because I'm a demanding email user, and I'm considering Thunderbird.

But when I've tried it I've hated it, and I wonder if it's improved. A lot.

Background:

The other day I asked for help on improving my email situation. I got great advice, and I'll be moving to Google Apps, as several suggested. Tom Iglehart, co-chair of CCTWG, will help me with the move.

Here's the geek part: I currently use Outlook Express, but Tom points out that if I move to an app that supports IMAP, I'll be able to view all my emails (received and sent) from any device or any computer. (Why do I care? Among other things that will let my wife comb through email conversations about speaking engagements etc, which will take a big burden off my sole-proprietor plate. She's infinitely better than me at detail work.)

The best known app that supports IMAP is Outlook. I hate it. In my experience (three times over the years) it gets full and then it starts malfunctioning, and I'm not interested in putting in the effort to become expert at managing a dysfunctional program.

Several times I've tried using Mozilla Thunderbird instead. It was funky but okay, but there were infuriating limitations (really dumb missing features), which caused me every time to punt it and go back to Outlook, because my employer required it. Now that restriction's gone.

So I need to know, is Thunderbird a lot better than it used to be?

I need a new email hosting company. Suggestions?

This one's for people who know about how to host websites etc. I need a change.

For www.ePatientDave.com I'm using an inexpensive hosting company, GoDaddy, that has great customer service. I'm not thrilled by their using Danica Patrick as their spokesperson in a cheesy way, but I can tolerate it. They've got really good customer service: competent people on the phone with little or no hold time. Their technical web interface is a mess in my view, but they're willing to do everything for you over the phone.

I've registered my domain name with them, and my website lives on their computers. Other users have mentioned that their sites have gone down occasionally but it's working fine for me.

What's not working fine is the other service I buy from them: email hosting. The way they do it, my genuine emails look like spam or phishing to some filters - and that keeps me from reaching clients. Like, when I try to email anyone at the Mayo Clinic it gets rejected.

Another client, potentially my biggest ever, thought I had no interest. They called before giving up, and we discovered all 5 of my responses had gone into their spam folder for the same reason.

Here's the corker: when I called in to ask Godaddy about it, the well-meaning guy on the phone was naive enough to say, "Well, your email is legitimate - can't you tell the Mayo Clinic to change their security settings?"

Right. Uh-huh. No, I think it's time to get rid of you, Godaddy, and find a provider who understands email security issues.

Suggestions, anyone?

I'm willing to consider Gmail, but I don't know if it's industrial strength. Ideally I'd like a provider that lets me store virtually unlimited emails on the Web, so my staff can access them - but it's vital that I have a copy on my computer too, so I can read them offline.