Lightning strikes Thunderbird with a little Microsoft Outlook

Mozilla has released the first stable build of its Thunderbird add-in, Lightning 1.0, which adds various organizer tools to Thunderbird, including a calendar, to-do list and events manager, giving it a more Outlook-like feel.

Version 1.0 represents the first stable release of the product, and is fully compatible with Thunderbird 8.0, which has just been released.

Lightning can be downloaded as a separate XPI file and installed manually, or you can open Thunderbird and locate it via the Tools > Add-Ons menu. Once installed, a new Events and Tasks menu appears in Thunderbird as well as an Events pane that can be tweaked to show a list of events, tasks or combination of both for the currently selected day.

A separate calendar view, which opens in its own dedicated tab, can be accessed either from the Events and Tasks menu or by hitting [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [C], while a Tasks tab is also accessible.

Lightning evolved from the Mozilla Calendar project, which began life as a standalone calendar application called Sunbird. Although still available as a separate download, Mozilla has ceased development on Sunbird, which remains in beta, and recommends users switch to Thunderbird and Lightning instead. One publicly stated goal is to eventually fold Lightning into Thunderbird into a single standalone application capable of competing with Microsoft Outlook.

Mozilla Lightning 1.0 Final is available now as a free open-source download for computers running Thunderbird 3.1 or later, including the brand new Thunderbird 8.0.