Post #26,716
1/31/02 3:58:35 PM
|
Email client suggestions
I'm about ready to wean my ethicaly challenged hench-people from Outlook. Actualy, those aren't the problem, they do my bidding and aren't that used to using Outlook, at least not here, yet. The rest of the company is.
On the plus side, nobody likes Outlook that much here. Hardware and bandwidth are constrained and Outlook is a hog.
So what we have is a not-terribly-technical bunch of Windows (patience, I cure that later) users who are reasonably comfortable with Outlook. No real use of advanced stuff like scheduling or tasks or shared contact lists. The shared contacts list is something the big boss wants, but I think a simple intranet page with mailto links will satisfy. The shared contacts list isn't sharing now for some reason anyway.
One feature that we do need, at least for a while, is a clean way to handle multiple email accounts. Most people here have multiple accounts. Pegasus, for example, is kind of a pain about those - I have to switch users to get email from my various accounts at home. That would not fly here, we each need email from all accounts coming in all the time.
Multiple profiles might be good, too. The President likes to work from home - which sometimes means Chicago and sometimes France. He wants all his email wherever he is, and that means at least two ISPs and the LAN.
Another handy feature, although not essential, is a free version. "Here, try this" is how I propose to move to a saner software base. I'm not comfortable imposing big changes across the board at the moment.
----
"You don't have to be right - just use bolded upper case" - annon.
|
Post #26,721
1/31/02 4:18:31 PM
|
Maybe PMMail or Eudora.
I like PMMail a lot. I think it solves all your needs. It's not free - but is shareware. 45 day trial. OS/2 and Windows versions. [link|http://www.pmmail2000.com/|PMMail2000.com].
It doesn't do Kerberos, but that's about the only reason why I can't use it at work.
There's also [link|http://www.eudora.com/|Eudora], which supports Kerberos. I haven't tried using it with multiple accounts and the like though. There is a free version, but I don't know how limited it is.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
|
Post #26,753
1/31/02 6:48:17 PM
|
I use Eudora with multiple accounts.
The free version has either ads in the top-corner, or no-ads and a lot of features missing (called Eudora Lite). I can't remember if multiple-accounts goes in Lite.
IIRC, Eudora has the market after Outlook and Outlook Express. It has security holes, but Qualcomm software are quick to patch them. The biggest and ugliest is the fact that it defaults to using the MS-HTML engine for displaying messages, but you can turn that off. It also sometimes has trouble with really huge mail folders, but although I've had it crash numerous times, it has never ever corrupted my email.
One nifty feature that you may be able to use as a selling point is multiple open folders. Eudora has an MDI within which you open messages and mail folders. Having multiple folders open is something not even Outlook does. The only snag with that is that Eudora's mail folder terminology is sometimes a bit wierd.
Eudora supports all the usual suspects: IMAP, POP3, SSL versions, etc etc.
Wade.
"All around me are nothing but fakes
Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
|
Post #26,755
1/31/02 6:50:03 PM
|
I use Eudora with multiple accounts.
The free version has either ads in the top-corner, or no-ads and a lot of features missing (called Eudora Lite). I can't remember if multiple-accounts goes in Lite.
IIRC, Eudora has the market after Outlook and Outlook Express. It has security holes from time to time, but Qualcomm software are usually quick to patch them and they aren't to the extent of Outlook/OE' holes. The biggest and ugliest is the fact that it defaults to using the MS-HTML engine for displaying messages, but you can turn that off. It also sometimes has trouble with huge IMAP folders, but although I've had it crash numerous times, it has never ever corrupted my email.
One nifty feature that you may be able to use as a selling point is multiple open folders. Eudora has an MDI within which you open messages and mail folders. Having multiple folders open is something not even Outlook does. The only snag with that is that Eudora's mail folder terminology is sometimes a bit wierd.
Eudora supports all the usual suspects: IMAP, POP3, SSL versions, etc etc.
Wade.
"All around me are nothing but fakes
Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
|
Post #27,122
2/3/02 11:43:28 PM
|
PMMail is simply the best I've seen for multiple accounts
Mine currently has 19 accounts (most are for testing client's email servers). Switching from one to another is a single mouse click.
One of the best features, but one you may not need, is "Remote Control" which logs you directly onto the mail server with a GUI interface. I use that feature to clean out peoples servers when a malformed message won't let them transfer mail or the server is clogged with a hundred virus laden spam messages.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
|
Post #26,723
1/31/02 4:21:51 PM
|
Re: Email client suggestions
Outlook Express ;)
It handles multiple accounts well.
Put up an LDAP server for shared contacts. It'll access that too.
Its 'free' as in 'come-with-Windows'.
Its not the same codebase as Outlook, despite the name.
--
Chris Altmann
|
Post #26,731
1/31/02 4:57:59 PM
|
Horrifying.
What's horrifying is that OE is actually quite good. But it's chock full of evil scripting security holes and requires care and attention to keep patched up to date.
However, the mail client in Mozilla/Netscape 6 is also very nice, and hooks up to LDAP servers nicely. And does IMAP.
Peter
Shill For Hire
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
|
Post #26,735
1/31/02 5:24:53 PM
|
and Mozilla does multiple accounts....
I think IMAP would be a good solution for the travelling boss.
Tony
|
Post #26,762
1/31/02 7:35:07 PM
|
Was going to suggest Mozilla too.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
|
Post #27,208
2/4/02 12:38:41 PM
|
me three
It also has the very nice feature of running under Windows and Linux. So you can migrate them to Mozilla on Windows and if (when) you change to Linux (or Mac?) you get to keep the interface and all your old mail and address books.
Have fun,
Carl Forde
|
Post #26,751
1/31/02 6:43:20 PM
|
Hmmm, a web based solution perhaps?
Why not just store the contact info on a web app? I know that some PHP and ASP programs out there will do email clients on a local Intranet. Then you can modify the code to share contacts, etc.
If my skills where up to date and I had the time, I'd write a web based alternative to Outlook in ASP or ASP.NET and then maybe port it to PHP or JSP. Anyone done this yet?
The only thing with Outlook that prevents it from being used as a Corp email client is that hardly any other email client can work with Exchange Server. D'oh!
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
|
Post #27,104
2/3/02 6:57:59 PM
|
My Mum uses Eudora,
so I can vouch for it being good for 'not-terribly-technical' folk.
On and on and on and on,
and on and on and on goes John.
|
Post #27,462
2/5/02 10:58:32 PM
|
I've been giving Eudora a try
I like the error logging, among other things. After dealing with Outlook, it's a treat to have software let you know what's going on.
And that may be a nifty wedge - I have to install it to debug your email.
Which has become important - our accountant hasn't received email lately, and the place that handles our email says the logs indicate she has had email sent to her, and that it has been received by somebody... Security was non-existant when I got there, and we now have several ex-employees, at least one unhappy, who could have her email account password. Time to clamp down. Passwords get changed tomorow AM. Maybe even before I check in the containers (a 20' and a 40').
----
"You don't have to be right - just use bolded upper case" - annon.
|
Post #29,288
2/21/02 5:19:05 PM
|
Re: Email client suggestions
I can definitely recommend PMMail. I've used it since it came out 5 years ago.
qts
|
