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From: ROODE%BIONET@SUMEX-AIM.STANFORD.EDU.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.computers.vax
Subject: Re: "Let them eat VMSmail" (Marie Antoinette)
Message-ID: <12293716943.22.ROODE@BIONET-20.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 11-Apr-87 14:24:06 EST
Article-I.D.: BIONET-2.12293716943.22.ROODE
Posted: Sat Apr 11 14:24:06 1987
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Regarding mail packages for VMS and the recent message
from UOWRAK@UOFMCC.BITNET implying that when people criticized
VMSMail they were praising ALL-IN-ONE.

This is incorrect.  I believe them both to be inferior
in several key respects, and although I will not take
a long time to identify everyone, here are a few things lacking
from one or both of them, that every good mail system should have:

1.  Queued mail delivery. The sender should not have
to wait while every recipient receives his mail.  If a network
node happens to be down when mail is sent, the mail should
still be delivered when next the network node is back up.

2.  Bulletin Boards.  Users should be able to effectively share
certain common mailboxes for the purposes of posting
electronic bulletin board type announcements.  This saves
a lot fo disk space!

3.  Distribution lists.  The sender should be able to send
mail to 'QA-DEPT' etc without naming all members
of the group.  It should be up to the mail system
to resolve the distribution list down into users to receive the
message.


One source I know of for a VMS Mail system that has these
and other friendlier features it MM32 from SRI International.

Recently I was the recpient of a telephone marketing survey
from Digital which inquired, interestingly enough, about
my opinion of the use of these features in both of the
two DEC mail products, i.e. in new products known
as VMS MAIL PLUS and ALL-IN-ONE PLUS.  So, DEC realizes
these deficiencies.  Unfortunately, a lot of you out
there in VMS land have never seen anything better,
so you have difficulty visualizing.

DEC's survey refered to item 1 as 'Store and Forward Mail'
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