Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 14:24:26 -0800 From: Michael Perry <mperry@tsoft.com> Message-ID: <20001125142426.A3110@tsoft.com> Subject: Re: [SLE] Balsa, mahogany, kmail...Summing up Quoting Corvin Russell on Sat, Nov 25, 2000 at 04:17:11PM -0500:
So, summing up:
There seems to be a consensus that despite the proliferation of clients, there is no robust GUI MUA that can compete with Outlook, Outlook Express, or Eudora. Users who like the functionality of those programs are not going to be impressed by the options on offer for Linux.
I don't suggest that it should be our 'mission' to convert people to linux, but there are undeniable benefits (and annoyances) that will come with a larger user base. To the extent that it is desirable (for companies like SuSE e.g.) that more people switch, it is a hard sell to persuade people that hey, all they really need is Mutt (or MUA x), which looks like a 'throwback to DOS days,' as a Mac user commented on my screenshots. The initial PITA configuring Mutt is certainly a deterrent to its adoption. I use Mutt and like it very much, and I don't think I'll be switching soon... it does what I want it to, and no more than I want it to. But there are people who use linux who miss their GUI mail readers. A friend using Linux keeps around his Mac OS for the following reasons: Eudora, anti-aliased font display, and BBEdit. I suspect that a lot of people like the polish available in the main commercial OS's. KDE is getting to that level of polish, but there are still gaping lacunae.
Perhaps someone at SuSE could note the volume of response to this issue and the relative consensus on it. It seems it would be in everyone's interest if the linux companies created a joint project to make a good email client -- or just funded one of the existing projects so that it could get the job done. Even OSS benefits from good project management and clear goals, as SuSE has shown us.
Best,
Corvin
-- Corvin Russell <corvinr@sympatico.ca>
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I just recently saw evolution running on a debian woody system at work. It looked pretty much like outlook with the menu bars, etc. All in all, mutt configuration is worth about what you put into it. I used outlook for some years and never cared for it. Of course, I was an Os/2 user before Linux so I tended to use clients like PMmail or Mr2 ice. My favorite NT/98 mailer is BAT!. It does what it needs to do and then some. I don't think, speaking purely personally, that I want another mailer like Outlook for myself. If I wanted one, I would probably start looking at where evolution is going. Then again, I use elm and pine before mutt. If you want one to do a combination of tasks, perhaps evolution from helixcode combined with nautilus from eazel is the way to go. I have seen a pretty functional version of evolution these days. Just beware, it does take a bit o'work to get it down. That is, unless you use debian. If you use debian, you just add a line to your /etc/apt/sources.list and have apt-get do all the hard work. There is a website which will do custom muttrc files for you for up to version 1.2.5 I believe. I have never tried one since I keep a few different ones around and then I compare them to see what each does. If people are looking for a combined contact management, emailer, PIM, thing; I believe that evolution will be the one. I am not looking for those things. I like my pie cut in separate pieces. Like my son says, "don't mix all that food together on one plate" :-). I can definitely understand why people would want this though. I admit to use a pocketpc though and not a palm or visor to keep my calender; which means I need a windows 98 system to synch up to. That's my own belief though; that you use what you have to or want to to get something done. I don't like the sense of the combination offerings though. So I probably will not use evolution because I prefer the way I have of doing things. -- Michael Perry mperry@tsoft.com ------------------