PopTrayU

Monopolies can end up being detrimental not only to consumers by taking away their freedom of choice, but the company that gains a monopolistic status may become the target for antitrust lawsuits whose costs can outweigh any gains made from this type of strategy.

As a result, competition leads to a series of products meant to cater to different consumer preferences. When it comes to email service providers, if you happen to use separate domains for personal, work and potential spam-filled inboxes, one way to centralize them is through PopTrayU.

Despite the extended support and frequency of updates that a paid, closed-source program may receive, they are likely to meet their demise if the company behind them dissolves, leaving behind unusable timed trials and purchasable domains.

However, when the developer of an open-source utility stops releasing updates due to lack of spare time or other personal reasons, a different programmer can take on the helm, which is also the case of the app at hand, being a fork of the original PopTray application.

Many email services try to reduce the development workload by sticking to their web and Android app versions, thus leaving Windows users whose workflows are centered around multitasking without a more fast-paced and seamless interaction method.

Luckily, with PopTrayU, users can preview incoming emails and filter them automatically through a minimalistic window that pops up from the system tray area. For a faster loading speed, messages can be rendered in plain text when necessary.

Finally, apart from the plethora of customization options, the app supports a number of visually pleasing themes, a number of which may suit those who miss the classy translucent style of Windows Vista.

While Mozilla Thunderbird remains the flagship FOSS app for centralizing addresses from any email providers, PopTrayU’s more fast-paced user experience focused on notification previewing may entice those who wish to avoid interrupting their workflows when receiving new emails.