Re: MUAs that compare with Outlook (your chance to show how much better Linux is than MS!!)
On Thursday 12 July 2001 17:28, Kurt Lieber wrote:
> OK, I've read with great amusement all the chest-thumping going on
> about MUAs, MTAs and how Microsoft email products are things that you
> scrape off the bottom of your shoe.
I'm tempted to drop the ^^^^^^^^^^^^ from the sentence ;-)
> I, for one, am brand-spanking new at Linux and have yet to find a Linux
> MUA that meets my needs. I really do like Linux and would like to
> transition over to it for my desktop machine, but because of it's
> weakness on the MUA side, I haven't been able to do so. ("weakness" is
> my perception - you can prove me wrong by continuing to read)
I was in a similar position when I started Linux ( a couple of years ago)
and used Forte Agent under Wine for about a year (couldn't find a usenet
client I liked either). I eventually settled on Kmail from KDE as a MUA,
now very much improved since KDE 2. I'll see what features I can match up.
> So, here's a list of my requirements and I'm hoping you guys can point
> me to an MUA that meets them. If so, I'll gladly switch over to Linux
> full-time and forswear Microsoft forever. :)
Just wiped the last vestiges of Windows off my box (haven't used it this
year) - just wish I could do the same at work :-(
> - Must be able to handle multiple IMAP-based accounts. (not
> necessarily on the same server)
Can handle multiple pop, IMAP & local mailbox
> - Must be able to easily change which account I'm sending email from,
> ideally selectable from the individual message composition screen.
Has an 'Identity' selecting at the top - I've set it to my debian-lists
for this one. You can also associate a folder with a mailing list, and
have it associate the list with an identity to speed up posting new
messages.
> - Must support caching of IMAP messages to local folders (i.e. offline
> mode) no -- POP3 won't work for me.
Don't know about this, as I don't have any IMAP accounts - I suspect it
probably will though.
> - Must be able to provide a view similar to Outlook's folder list that
> shows me, *at a single glance* how many unread messages I have in each
> of my IMAP accounts. No switching around, no multiple keystrokes --
> one screen.
Fairly configurable - I currently have 21 unread in Trash (not from this
list - honest ;-) ) and 55 unread from this list - which I can see while
writing this.
> - Must have preview pane capabilities or, at the very least, something
> similar to Outlook's show first 3-lines capability.
Your email is currently in mine - I rarely open up messages & just
navigate via the preview.
> - Must have sophisticated filtering/rules capabilities. (pretty sure
> procmail can fulfill this)
Has a decent set of filters that can move, redirect, forward, bounce,
rewrite headers, etc. It also supports message scoring though I haven't
used that as yet.
> - Must support automatic spell-checking of emails.
Got me on that one - You have to click on an icon or set up a key binding
(F7 for me)
> - Must seamlessly handle MIME attachments (meaning I click on the "add
> attachment" button/key, select the file from the hard drive and send
> the email message with no other farting around.)
No problems
> - Must have integrated address book (or seamlessly integrate into
> another address book program) This includes auto-completing email
> addresses as they're entered and the ability to enter actual names and
> have the address program substitute the email address upon sending.
Various choices of address book. Can use the KDE address book. Does
auto-completions (though appears to be case sensitive). I still use the
old kmail addressbook and it just name searches on the start of the entry
(there is just one field for name & email combined) - I guess the KAB
interface is more sophisticated
> - Must have integrated calendaring program (or seamlessly integrate
> into another calendar program)
:-( Don't know if there is a KDE calendar app that will link. I use
blackbox as my window manager and just have KDE installed for kmail &
konqueror, so I'm fairly ignorant on KDE's other offerings.
> - Must synch up with Palm Pilots (at least address book and calendar --
> don't care about synching email)
Pass.
> - Address book must support exporting for use in other programs.
KAddressbook exports to .csv - any use?
> - Nice to have a debian package, but not required.
# apt-get install kmail
(assuming you are running woody or sid)
> - Nice to be free, but not necessarily required.
:-)
> - Be as stable (or more) as Outlook 2002.
I've not had any problems (other than of my own making) with KMail 1.2
(1.1 under KDE 1 was a bit ropey at times)
> - Does not have to be one single program, but does have to integrate
> reasonably simply. I'm not willing to write custom code or spend 12
> hours on fiddling with things to get them interoperating correctly.
> (especially as this is not something I have to do with Outlook)
Does most things itself but can hook into others - PGP or GPG support,
external editor, fire up another program via filters or incoming mail,
etc.
> These are, IMO, very reasonable, standard requirements and they are
> things that I *rely* on to get my job done. Again, I really hope that
> there's a package (or set of packages) that will allow me to do what
> I'm looking for. So far, I haven't seen it. And yes, I will gladly
> sacrifice a *little* stability in order to achieve these features and
> capabilities.
>
> If there isn't, then I hope the person who stated "anyone who uses MS
> email products is ignorant" will reconsider their statement.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --kurt
Any use to you/others?
Regards, Martin
--
martin@dbg400.net / jamaro@firstlinux.net
http://www.dbg400.net DBG/400 - DataBase Generation utilities
Open Source test environment tools for the AS/400 / iSeries and
miscellaneous database & spooled file management commands.
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