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From: sanders@parc.xerox.com (Rex Sanders)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm
Subject: Re: Desktop Mail in the University Environment
Message-ID: <1991Feb10.022029.105@parc.xerox.com>
Date: 10 Feb 91 02:20:29 GMT
References: <3348@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
Sender: news@parc.xerox.com
Organization: Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
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John,
  Thanks for writing your paper.  You asked for a public discussion of
issues raised.  In spite of your disclaimer about remote mail issues,
you write:

> Academics need to be able to access their mail from many different places
> - at the office, at home, from other universities, from conferences, etc.
> This is very easy with the POP clients, because the user's mailbox resides
> on an Internet host.  The host is reachable from anywhere on the Internet.
> If the user has access to a networked Mac or PC at the remote location,
> he can even take a copy of his POP client software with him and use it
> from half-way around the world!  If necessary, he can also telnet to the
> UNIX host and use the UNIX mail programs.

Unfortunately, the POP client/server model meets only half the need for
remote mail access.  A Very Important Feature to many users is
accessing *old* mail remotely.  The POP model is basically "download
from mainframe and delete".  With Eudora, you can leave ALL your old
unsorted mail piling up forever on the POP host.  You will soon be
visited by a system administrator threatening bodily harm!

If your old mail is stored on your Mac (or PC or whatever), you must
remember to back up your files.  Honestly now, when was the last time
YOU backed up your hard disk?  How about the average user you support?
If your old mail stayed on the server, the server administrator could
back up the files regularly.

The IMAP protocol, from what I understand, solves these problems.  The
server is manipulated with remote commands to read, delete, store,
search, and retrieve mail.  Your old mail, in folders, is stored on the
server, and may be retrieved remotely as John describes above.  Your
old mail is backed up regularly, etc.  IMAP servers are available for Unix
and other hosts;  IMAP clients are available for Macs, PCs, and Unix
workstations.

Unfortunately, the Mac IMAP client I've tried is yucky, especially
compared to Eudora.  If only Steve had used IMAP instead...

Don't get me wrong - I love Eudora.  Eudora/POP just doesn't solve some
important problems.

-- Rex
   sanders.parc@xerox.com