Re: MUAs that compare with Outlook (your chance to show how much better Linux is than MS!!)
%% Kurt Lieber <debian@internalcombustion.com> writes:
kl> OK, I've read with great amusement all the chest-thumping going on
kl> about MUAs, MTAs and how Microsoft email products are things that
kl> you scrape off the bottom of your shoe.
...
kl> If there isn't, then I hope the person who stated "anyone who uses
kl> MS email products is ignorant" will reconsider their statement.
I'm using Emacs+Gnus+Procmail and get all the power I want. I don't
know if it can do everything you want or not; I don't see anything
obviously missing.
I more wanted to respond to these particular statements.
The reason people here don't like MS Email products typically has little
to do with how easy they are to use. It's also not true that we have to
have actually used these products before abusing them.
It may well be (I don't know, myself) that Outlook has the best,
simplest to use user interface ever invented.
That's not the point.
The point is, Outlook etc. cares more about how easy it is for you to
send the message. We care more about how easy it is for the
_receiver(s)_ of the message to read and understand it.
So, when we see Outlook send messages with broken MIME, with bogus
default settings like Rich Text that more than doubles the bandwidth and
storage capacity required for no reason, with quoting capabilities that
defy every real and defacto standard developed over the years, etc.,
then we say that it is a crappy product and should be avoided and
shunned, and we know we're right.
And we never once had to run it ourselves.
UNIX tools typically start with the basic premise that the underlying
behavior must be correct, and user friendly bells and whistles can be
added later (and this is starting to happen). It often seems that
Microsoft starts from _exactly_ the opposite position. I think (and I
think experience has shown this to be correct) that it's much easier to
add a nice interface to a fundamentally strong base than it is to go in
and fix up a broken base underneath a nice interface.
To paraphrase the famous performance enhancement mantra, it doesn't
matter how simple the product is to use, if it generates the wrong
result.
This probably doesn't make much difference in your search, but I thought
I'd throw in my $0.02 anyway.
--
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Paul D. Smith <psmith@baynetworks.com> HASMAT--HA Software Methods & Tools
"Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
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These are my opinions---Nortel Networks takes no responsibility for them.
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