[OT] E-mail provider recommendations

[Peter Corlett]

On 22 Jul 2007, at 14:09, Dave Hodgkinson wrote:
> On 22 Jul 2007, at 14:23, Chris Bannister wrote:
>> Dave Hodgkinson wrote:
>>> What is it about Google that doesn't tick all your boxes?
>> No IMAP?
> IMAP is evil.

The protocol was clearly designed under the influence of illicit  
pharmaceuticals, but it seems to mostly solve the problem it was  
designed to solve.

> Google DTRT IMHO: KISS, POP3[0] and leave on the server.
> [0] Four FLA's in a row. Woo!

POP3 is merely the opposite of SMTP but with even less capability.  
IMAP is a protocol for managing a remote mailbox. They are  
fundamentally different tools.

The killer features for IMAP is that I can use Exim Filter to pre- 
sort my mail into folders, that sorted mailbox is held on a secure  
system that is backed-up regularly (i.e. not my laptop), the whole  
collection of folders can be manipulated from a variety of clients  
(my desktop and my laptop and my work machine and...), and changes  
via one MUA will appear on the others. So I only have to delete spam  
once.

POP3 "leave on server" is for people who don't understand that IMAP  
isn't just a heavyweight POP3.