So, my new employer uses Exchange servers for email (i.e. Outlook for clients). I’m not on an Outlook-supported platform, so that’s not ideal.
DavMail to the rescue! It’s a piece of software that runs under Windows, Unix and OSX. What it does: it translates the secret Exchange-Outlook mail protocol into public protocols (POP, IMAP, SMTP, CalDav, LDAP, …).
And it works quite beautifully! Though you’ll need openjdk-7-jre for it to run.
Next, you can set up Thunderbird to get your Exchange mail via DavMail (username at the OU: XXX@pwo.ou.nl). And it works beautifully!
In related news: it seems you cannot stop Thunderbird from checking an account: if you’re online, it’s trying to check that account. Annoying if you have an old account to which you no longer have access (but have a local archived copy).