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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Exploring Ins and Outs of New E-Mail Applications

My own introduction to e-mail came through a mainframe-based system called TN3270. Its features were about as user-friendly as its name, and it was so awkward and prone to accidental message destruction that I actually swore off e-mail for awhile. Probably for the last time in my life, I exclusively returned to paper letters for a few months, and I vowed not to use e-mail again until someone came up with something better. Someone did, and what a difference seven years makes. Today, depending on the kind of work you do, an e-mail boycott is almost unthinkable, and with companies like Netscape, Microsoft and Qualcomm competing to provide the best e-mail software much of it for free the problem is which application to pick. The application that brought me back to e-mail was Eudora, now distributed by Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com). Today almost all e-mail applications have interfaces that are as easy and word processor-like as Eudora’s was back then, but Eudora still has a few noteworthy features. Good e-mail The strengths of the latest version (4.2) include speech synthesis for reading messages out loud and filters for easily deleting junk mail. For example, if you get unwanted mail from the same sender over and over again, you can simply set up Eudora to delete anything that comes from that address. Most important, however, is that Eudora has what seems (at least to me) to be the clearest, least cramped and most intuitive interface of any e-mail application. A free version called Eudora Lite (www.eudora.com) is available with a limited set of features, but for the full version, Eudora Pro, you can expect to pay less than $50. Eudora Lite and Eudora Pro are both available for Windows and Macintosh. Personally, I still use Eudora, but the features of Netscape Messenger (a part of the free Netscape Communicator suite) is another contender. Messenger has strong support for languages other than English, the ability to encrypt messages, and a handy ability to “quote” a previous message. A button simply inserts the complete text of another message into the message you’re writing, so you can easily refer to it while responding. Netscape Messenger is also available in Windows and Macintosh versions. One of the best new e-mail applications available right now, however, is Microsoft’s free Outlook Express, which makes good on its parent company’s antitrust defense about its “right to innovate.” Outlook Express has nearly all the features of its competitors, and then some. The strengths of Outlook Express include good multilingual support, sophisticated support for stationery, encryption, and the ability to digitally sign documents (Windows version only, for now) so recipients can verify that it was really you who sent that death threat. Ironically, however, Microsoft has put some of the best features in the Macintosh version of Outlook Express. Like the Mac version of Internet Explorer, Outlook Express on the Mac makes its Windows counterpart look a little clinical. It also has neat features like a sophisticated junk-mail filter that you can adjust to make it more or less discriminating. Outlook Express will never, however, treat messages from anyone in your address book as junk mail. Virus alert Outlook Express also has a smooth, intuitive interface, and has the ability to import mail files from other e-mail applications and to synchronize files with a Palm organizer. Outlook Explorer’s biggest drawback, however, is vulnerability to viruses. It’s hard to say whether the problem is that Microsoft products are vulnerable in a way that others aren’t, or simply that Microsoft is the most appealing target. In either case, many of the most notorious viruses of the past year seem to spread only through Microsoft applications running on Windows. One of the most dangerous affects only the Windows version of Outlook Express. For example, the recent “Bubbleboy” virus, which appeared in early November, broke new infectious ground because the message containing it didn’t even need to be fully opened to activate the virus. Simply highlighting the message’s subject line in Outlook Express was enough to bring the virus to life and send copies of it to every address in your digital address book. This was not particularly harmful, and the security hole was easily “patched.” But this type of virus could be a vanguard for new generations of viruses that are easier to spread and more destructive than ever. Other features to expect in any e-mail application (including all three discussed here) are things like automatic spelling checkers, the automatic filling-in of complete e-mail addresses after you type the first few characters, and sophisticated address books for keeping contact information about everyone you stay in touch with. Unfortunately, none of these three applications offers particularly convenient options for printing out your address books for reference when you need to leave a computer behind. That’s something that might be worth thinking about just in case we do go back to 1900 for a few days after the New Year. E-mail abroad Speaking of doing without e-mail for awhile, what are your best options for short trips out of the country? An option to consider is whether you can avoid the trouble of making your own connection or paying high international phone charges by checking your e-mail from one of the growing number of cyber cafes or Net-access kiosks or business centers around the world. This may not be an ideal solution, but if there’s no other way to get access in a city you’re in or if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of setting up a local connection, reconfiguring your modem, etc. it may make sense. There are currently more than 2,500 cyber cafes in more than 120 countries, plus more than 2,000 registered public Internet access points and kiosks. All you need is a Web-based mail service such as Mailstart, My.Netscape.Com or Hotmail, all of which can check existing mail accounts from anywhere in the world through a Web browser. For more information about cyber cafes in the areas you will be traveling to, check the Cybercafe Search Engine at www.cybercaptive.com, or check with the hotel you’ll be staying in. You may be surprised by the options for using e-mail without lugging around your own equipment. Christopher Ott is a freelance technology writer and author of “Global Solutions for Multilingual Applications” (Wiley, 1999). He can be reached at [email protected].

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