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, 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)
>
> 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. :)
>
> - Must be able to handle multiple IMAP-based accounts. (not necessarily
> on the same server)
I think most of the MUA that support IMAP support tihs (netscape,
mutt...)
> - Must be able to easily change which account I'm sending email from,
> ideally selectable from the individual message composition screen.
this is possbile but might not be exactly from message composition
screen, it also depends on what you want to set - envelope, From:
header, Reply-to header... all of these is possible based on various
condition and at various stages of email being sent (MUA or MTA can do
this)
> - Must support caching of IMAP messages to local folders (i.e. offline
> mode) no -- POP3 won't work for me.
not sure which ones support off-line mode...
> - 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.
this is offered in several flavours, in some MUAs it does not make as
much sense as in others. mutt has a combined index/message window (no
folders list on the same screen, afaik), netscape (and other GUI MUAs I
guess) have familiar three pane window (folder, message list, message
view) etc...
however, in each IMAP account there might be several folders with new
mails, I cannot make netscape to monitor all of them (it just monitors
Inbox)...
it is trivial to write a script that would do that though (check the
IMAP folders for messages), there's plenty of various tools, e.g.:
jojda:~>ifrom ~/mail/in-l-debian-user
...
198 N Paul Huygen <pemhuygen@ 13-Jul-2001 00:15 Re: MUAs that
compare w
199 N Osamu Aoki <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 13-Jul-2001 00:20 Re: getting
dhcp packag
200 N Osamu Aoki <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 13-Jul-2001 00:25 Re: Getting the
bootin
etc...
> - Must have preview pane capabilities or, at the very least, something
> similar to Outlook's show first 3-lines capability.
see previous item
> - Must have sophisticated filtering/rules capabilities. (pretty sure
> procmail can fulfill this)
yes, procmail is THE one, there are also some interesting perl modules
for this, I forgot the name... some MUAs also include filtering
(netscape)
> - Must support automatic spell-checking of emails.
most text based MUAs let you use your own editor so it's up to the
editor... netscape supports spell checking but not the on-the-fly
style...
> - 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.)
most do...
> - 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.
most do (I guess). I plan to set up LDAP address book, I think both
netscape and mutt can use it, not sure how though...
> - Must have integrated calendaring program (or seamlessly integrate into
> another calendar program)
I don't think there's anything like this. note that calendar in
outlook only works with calendar in other outlooks - so it makes more
sense to use it when everybody uses outlook (or given client) - you can
set up meetings and check up on schedules of attendees etc... it makes
sense to ue it for your own purposes but not as much (why would you want
to send yourself an email about what you have to do? you can mark it
directly in calendar).
> - Must synch up with Palm Pilots (at least address book and calendar --
> don't care about synching email)
?
> - Address book must support exporting for use in other programs.
see LDAP
> - Nice to have a debian package, but not required.
> - Nice to be free, but not necessarily required.
> - Be as stable (or more) as Outlook 2002.
> - 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)
to have all of the above (and more, you will want more:-) it might be
quite hard to set up so that it all works together. You might want to
change your ways a little bit. What you gain is security, more precise
control over all aspects of your email, flexibility...
and you will be able to read emails that start with Begin :-)
erik
