[MlMt] Summer status 2025

[Benny Kjær Nielsen]

Hi MailMate users,

I've added to my signature that I'll be on vacation for the rest of July 
and a bit of August. I'll be online on a regular basis, but I will 
likely be unable or very slow to handle some types of issues.

In this email I just wanted to mention a few subjects which might come 
up on the list when I'm slow to reply to direct feedback

### Questions about “Free Mode”

As most of you likely know, I've switched MailMate to a combination of 
being free and being subscription software. It's all explained in the 
[December blog 
post](https://blog.freron.com/2024/mailmate-2-0-beta-released/) and on 
the page about the new [pricing model](http://freron.com/pricing/). For 
existing license key users with keys older than 2 years then July 1st 
was the date for MailMate to automatically switch into this mode. In 
particular, a “Free Mode” button would show up if a 
subscription/patronage was not found by MailMate. I'm handling various 
problems manually, e.g., users with multiple license keys, and this 
might take a bit more time than usual.

### License configuration / Site licenses

Some users prefer a time limited license key instead of a subscription. 
This is possible on the [license 
configuration](https://freron.com/license_configuration) page. On the 
same page, it's possible to configure a time limited site license key.

### Status on new pricing model

Feedback has been very positive and MailMate now has a lot more 
subscribers/patrons than before July 1st. I'll definitely be able to 
continue full time development for the rest of the year and then I'll 
evaluate what I'm going to do in the future. I am out of the 
hobby-project territory, but I'm not yet ruling out that it's going to 
be a part time project some day.

### Critique of the new model

A few users have raised concerns, most of them politely, and I'm 
considering how I'm going to roll out the public 2.0 release (whenever 
that is). This might include some kind of final non-subscription release 
of MailMate in order to make a clear line in the sand. Just thinking out 
loud here.

I also recommend the blog post with [answers to common 
questions](https://blog.freron.com/2025/why-did-mailmate-switch-to-free-mode-today/) 
about the switch to “Free Mode”.

### Gmail with OAuth2

It's still uncertain if MailMate will continue to work with Gmail using 
OAuth2. Many users should be able to switch to application specific 
passwords if this stops working, but it would likely trigger a lot of 
questions -- also on this list. I've asked Google for another 
postponement last week (until October), but I have not gotten a reply 
due to Google workers taking some days of (I think). In theory, it 
should have stopped working yesterday, but that did not happen. Right 
now I'm offline though and something might have happened before I get 
online again (this email will go out as soon as I'm online).

-- 
Benny
(Note: On vacation until August 4th.)
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