3 February 2004

My Kingdom for a Universal E-Mail Client

Out of the blue, and for no real reason that I can think of, I sat down and did a count of how many programs I'm using to check and archive E-Mail. The results go something like this.

I use Microsoft Outlook to check my accounts at Hotmail and My Real Box. I do this because I find the web mail interfaces for both servers to be somewhat clunky and slow.

I use AOL Communicator to check my AOL E-Mail account. I do this because the E-Mail client built into the AOL connection software is pretty much a copy of their web interface for their E-Mail client, and it sucks. I actually get better performance and more functionality through using AOL Communicator.

I use Netscape Mail to check my Netscape E-Mail account. I do this because I find the Netscape web mail interface even clunkier and slower than the Hotmail or AOL Mail interface, and it certainly isn't all that intuitive. Not in my opinion anyway.

For all my other accounts I use web based interfaces because the providers don't give any provision for using a program like Outlook or Netscape Mail to check those accounts. But still, that's three pieces of software that I have to have installed and running just to access the accounts I use most.

The real sick thing of it is, there isn't any way that I can reduce that number of programs. I'm pretty much stuck with the arrangement I'm using.

I can use Netscape Mail to check my account at My Real Box as well as my Netscape Mail account, but it wouldn't accomplish anything because I would still have to use Outlook to check my Hotmail account. I like using Outlook to do that because I don't have to use the Web Interface that way. I find most web mail interfaces to be somewhat clunky and unappealing, and I really don't like the fact that I can't archive messages from those accounts on my hard drive.

I can use Netscape Mail to access my AOL Mail account, thus eliminating the need for AOL Communicator, but the problem with that is if I have Netscape Mail set up to use AOL and Netscape E-Mail accounts it has a distressing tendency to deliver my mail to the wrong account. It doesn't do this if I use it for just the AOL account, or just the Netscape account, just if I use it for both accounts. Needless to say I find this somewhat annoying, not to mention distracting.

And here's another thing, in order to use Netscape Mail for either my AOL account or my Netscape account, or both, I have to be running the version of AOL Instant Messenger that comes integrated into Netscape, and I have to be logged onto the AIM service with it. It's not enough that I'm logging onto the Internet through AOL software that automatically logs me into the AIM service. For some strange reason Netscape doesn't detect that. I think this is strange because Netscape and AOL have long been known to be affiliated with each other, and given that I see no reason why the Netscape browser should have such a shoddy relationship with the AOL connection software.

The above little tidbit of information is tucked away in the Help Files for Netscape 7.1, but you have to look for it. Nowhere in the setup dialogs does it tell you that this is the case, which I think is just bad design, and worse documentation. But what do I know? I've just been using these machines professionally for damn near twenty years.

All this really does, though, is illustrate a very frustrating problem with this industry; there are entirely too many E-Mail clients out there. Most of them are fairly limited in their base functions, and they tell you that out of the box. But some of the bigger names like Microsoft Outlook and Netscape Mail try to do everything the little guys do and then some. Generally they do a pretty good job, but there are things that they won't do. Or, in those cases where they will do those things you have to install additional software to make it happen.

What I would love to see is the development of a universal E-Mail client. I want a program that will allow me to retrieve and archive E-Mail from POP3 and IMAP E-Mail accounts. I want this same program to allow me to retrieve and archive E-Mail from Hotmail, Netscape, and AOL E-Mail accounts. And while we're on the subject, let's throw in the Yahoo and Lycos mail services too, just for the hell of it. Instead of three or four or five programs you're using one to do exactly the same thing.

Just to make things even easier, let's design the things so that the message archive is stored in the same PST file format that Outlook uses. The benefit of using this format is that every E-Mail client that I've seen will both import from and export to that format, which will make migrating to a different client, should you decide to do so, very easy.

Personally, I think that kind of project could potentially net the developer a rather tidy sum of money. The unfortunate thing is, it's never going to happen, and the reason it's never going to happen can be summed up in one word: copyright. The individual E-Mail providers, especially the web based ones, all hold a copyright over the software they're using and this project could never be developed without their cooperation. That means they would have to give up some of those secrets, and they just aren't going to do that because Intellectual Property is an asset and assets are those things the bank likes when it comes time to assess your credit rating.

Besides which, why should they give up that information? Would that not constitute giving information to the enemy, which is an act of Treason, even on a corporate scale?

You know, I believe in copyright. I believe in the concept of intellectual property. But there are times when it would be so much easier to do something useful and good if those two interlocking concepts weren't carved into the fabric of our society. It's all about money, my friends, and how much you can beg, borrow, or steal from those who don't know any better.

Now, why is it that when I write the above I feel more than a little bit disgusted?