[xiamenese]

If you want to get away from Mail, you could try GyazMail. It only sends plain text mails, but then I prefer that anyway, but it has other tricks up its sleeve, like being able to access the server itself, and to set up server filters to remove spam and other messages from known sources at the server without them being downloaded first ...
Of course, it doesn't integrate to the same extent with iPhoto and other Apple apps that are hooked into Mail.