Today I realised that I could use mozex and vim to edit email. I tried this with gmail and it went into a weird endless loop until I killed firefox. So I had a more serious try at using squirrelmail on my local imap server. Using gmail as a client had been bothering me as it's more of a black hole than outlook: how could I ever get my email archives back?
Running through email client alternatives:
- Outlook
- Big slow lumbering, much loved by ignorant phb's. Message filtering rules randomly disable themselves and cannot be relied upon. Taskbar indicator says messages are waiting even if filters mark them as read.
- Thunderbird
- Feels like a poor clone of outlook express. Whenever it can't connect to the imap server it decides it is because the password is wrong and I have to enter it again. Getting on my nerves.
- Eudora
- it only seems to last for about 5 minutes whenever I install it. I think 'so what' and delete it.
- mutt
- user interface design from the 1970's.
- gmail
- insists on putting signatures at bottom of replies, annoying for a top-poster like me. No way to get at archives apart from forwarding them all to self. Taskbar notifier either flaky or very sensitive detector of flaky networks. Notifier prompts me for user name and password whenever the pc boots. Both are already filled in I only have to press OK so it's not a security feature just an annoyance.
- Squirrelmail
- web-based, a little simplistic but not as simplistic as horder or neomail.
I have yet to find a truly lovable email client.
Peter's Moblog
For now is a little confusing for imap. They say are rewriting the imap support. When the syncro between local copy and folder imap server is perfect I think is the tool for email. I love the search capability like google in the complete message and for more than one word, and the way can filter and label the messages. Also loving the local storage in mbox format, but with one file per month.
Pere