Re: Linux Mail Client
On Wed, Aug 23, 2000 at 03:25:02PM +0100, Mark Brown wrote:
> I've never used either of those. How do they look from a user interface
> point of view? I'm thinking of things like starting a new mail and
> deciding which personality it's going to use.
There is no concept of "personalities". Click in the account you want to
use, click new message, it uses that account. The Bat! offers the choice of
changing which accout you use after opening the new message.
> Outlook lets you leave your mail on the IMAP server (that's how I've
> got it set up, anyway) and claims to let you select your e-mail address
> on a per-server basis. It doesn't seem to have variable store for sent
> items, though.
Which is one of the many problems with the personalities paradigm. The
assumption is that it is your mail, no matter what the name on the account or
which server it came from, so it is alright that it all gets mixed in
together. I believe Eudora and Pegasus both do this (as do every other client
following the personalities model, including mutt to an extend).
> > Nope, it is unacceptable because it doesn't have separate mail accounts,
> > just personalities on a single account.
> It's still in the early stages yet - give it time.
I would be delighted if they took that route. However, the screen shots
given so far suggest they are going to go the personalities route since so few
people are aware of having the accounts separate inside the program. Of all
the clients I have used across four platforms now (OS/2, Windows, Unix, BeOS)
only the two I mentioned have ever done the separate accounts.
> You could probably write a script to generate the configuration, but
> it's still not ideal.
Exactly.
> I'd observe that it's not exactly rocket science and that the situation
> you're describing is fairly unusual, at least in my experience. Generally,
> utterly distinct identities are associated with similiarly distinct physical
> and/or computing environments and the problem doesn't really arise.
I do not see this as the case. Personally I abhor mixing mail of
different addresses when there is a funcional difference between those
addresses in meatspace. For example, postmaster vs. slamb3 on the corporate
side of life. Since those are two different roles I would be filling (not
that I do now, but I did at one time) I would much rather keep that mail
completely separate but still be able to check both with the same email
client. They are not different in physical or computing environments, only in
what hat I am wearing, what problems I am solving, in what capacity for the
company I am speaking and the possibility of handing off some of those roles
to other people and having to provide them the history of those transmissions.
Now imagine this for different roles across the gamut of different addresses
and associated roles one might accumulate through their lives. Off the top of
my head I know that there are several different roles that I would like to
perform and have a separate address for because those roles may switch off in
the future and/or I do not want them mixed up with either my personal mail or
professional mail. Lead of the AIMS project, for example. Part of my plans
for my rpglink.com domain which I believe expires today. Wonder if
register.com will be able to take it over. Ah, that is another one,
registering of domains and associated email that goes with it. I have found
that keeping the accounts separate quite useful which is why I prefer that as
the sane default.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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