Thunderbird 3.1.2 ate my productivity

[chronovore]

(OK, it looks like this is a 3.1 issue; I thought I'd installed 3.1 at launch but apparently I was running 3.0.whatevs until this morning.)

TLDR version:I hate being made to feel stupid. Why do engineers ever think it's a good idea to put multiple search fields available in an application's user interface? iTunes does some weird crap, but even iTunes knows enough to make Search contextually sensitive to location within the app. In your Library? I'll search the library. In the Apple Store? I'll search the store. It probably also isolates if you're in your iPod or iPad...

One of the things which irks me a lot are shortsighted UI changes which look efficient but are actually confusing. Like MS Office "ribbon"? I hate that thing. It may be great for new users, but for users who are accustomed to Office, suddenly it's just about impossible to find my own ass with both hands, a flashlight, and a GPS.

Thunderbird mandated a "minor" revision this morning (actually with 3.1) and its search functionality has changed. Until this morning, it had a single search field, and the magnifying glass icon was a drop down for Search Type, e.g. search all messages, message body, subject, to: and subject, etc.

In today's revision, in addition to the Search field at the top, now there's a Quick Filter bar underneath it, with the ability to show only mails with attachments, tagged mail, mail from contacts, etc. The whole Quick Filter bar can be minimized/hidden, so you don't have to see it all the time. It also has its own Search field for text entry.

The functionality for Quick Filters was previously inherent to the universal search field, but now the various drop down Search options are now buttons. These are displayed only if text has been entered, so what was one step is now a progressive isolation of search results. That's not inherently bad, but it's a big change.

But now there are two fields for text entry when searching: "Search All Messages" field and a "Quick Filter" field. I just don't see a reason why this wasn't included in a "Search" bar. Anytime a user has to go multiple places to find things, it's confusing. And I can't believe the change isn't advertised in mile high flaming letters on the greeting screen.