Re: installing pine
On Wed, 20 Dec 2000, David Wright wrote:
> Quoting Dwight Johnson (dwj@aaronsrod.com):
>
> > These issues concern people who are _not_ beginners. Time is money and
> > taking a lot of time to configure an application is wasteful, when an equal
> > result can be achieved in much less time with Pine.
>
> As I said, if you're used to pine, just use the pine bindings,
> which someone went to the trouble of writing. If you need the
> exact location, it's /usr/share/doc/examples/Pine.rc .
It was the great help features of Pine which are not developed in mutt
which I was referring to when I said 'issues'. The bindings are not an
issue.
> > Some years back, storage cost was an issue. But these days, when you can
> > buy a 5Gb drive for $130, the expense of storing Pine is only $0.02.
> > If Pine saved only a single $100 consulting hour in configuration time, the
> > tradeoff would already be gigantic in Pine's favor. The advantage offered
> > by mutt's smaller footprint is nill on any platform larger than a PDA or
> > cellphone.
>
> Kindly desist from offering this sort of advice. I am not party to
> institutional decisions. Oh, and read my signature.
<duck> My condolences. I didn't realize you work at Stonehenge. :-) </duck>
> > On the contrary, the power user does want these aids. The power user wants
> > to make efficient use of his time by being able to quickly access help to
> > execute commands that perhaps he uses only occasionally, like printing an
> > e-mail or finding a particular e-mail by searching for a keyword, without
> > having to search through a nearly endless alphabetical list of commands or
> > waste brain synapses memorizing something he might do only once a week or
> > less.
>
> It sounds as if you haven't noticed that / will search and highlight
> in the help screen as well as elsewhere.
No, I had not noticed that. I have not yet invested the requisite man-day
studying the mutt documentation in order to notice that feature. Thanks for
bringing it to my attention.
> > Only in one respect, that I can see based on my brief exposure, is mutt
> > better -- mutt is a better _threaded_ mail reader. It looks like a lot of
> > effort has been put into mutt's threading features. People who want a
> > threaded mail reader may well prefer mutt. Since I want to process my
> > mail _strictly_ in arrival order, threaded is not a feature I would ever
> > use.
>
> It beats me how you can deal with high volume lists (like this one)
> without threading.
If I am reading e-mail continually during my work throughout the day, what
is optimal is vastly different from reading it perhaps only once or twice a
day. In the latter case, the advantages of threaded mailreading are much
greater. But then I think I would be at great risk of missing high priority
personal mail unless it were filtered into its own folder. In fact, in that
case, I think I would want a cron job to check the personal mail folder and
command my computer to emit a beep at intervals to alert me that I have
personal mail.
My pattern of work _is_ changing as I no longer have a business I am glued
to.
But, to answer your question: when reading and answering e-mail was an
integral and continual part of my work, it was no problem dealing with high
volume lists without threading because I checked messages so often that I
dispatched messages before threads built up.
I do acknowledge that the threading and color enhanced features of mutt are
really great and way ahead of what Pine has to offer.
> > Pine's help and configuration systems are vastly superior to mutt -- making
> > Pine much easier to learn and use on a daily basis -- I submit that these
> > features are highly significant for 'power users' who value their time.
>
> Submit to your hearts content. These things are a matter of opinion,
> religion, whatever...
I see. Your opinions are a matter of fact, but mine are merely religion.
> When I post help, I might post opinions with them, particularly
> when solicited, as here. But I'm not interested in discussing
> religious issues nor indulging in a flame war.
Very well then. You get the last word. I am through. I will continue to try
to learn and use Mutt as time permits. But when my time is important, I
will be forced to continue to use Pine.
Dwight
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