Netscape integration

[Steve Lamb]

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On Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:18:13 -0400 (EDT), Ralph Cohen wrote:

>Unix?? To which of the many different proprietary and open versions of
>the operating system are you referring?<g>

    All of them.  There is more compatibility between the different versions
of unix than there is with the different versions of word.

>As far as PMMail is concerned, I'm extremely happy to have a quality,
>native integrated email package available for OS/2 and I hope the
>authors continue to support and improve it.

    It is not economically viable for them to do so.  The whole reason PMMail
has not gained any real new members to speak of is because its releases are
so long in coming that it drops of the download engines!  It was Mar of,
what, last year when the latest PMMail9x was released.  It is no longer
listed on Winfiles or Tucows, the two biggests sources of software.

    Here is the *FACT*.  Bob & Ike either need to work faster (and since
PMMail isn't their primary work, I doubt that would happen) or they need to
work *LESS*.

    The only way to maintain quality is to stop trying to program four
seperate applications at once.  I would rather have aspell than have Bob &
Ike spend the next year trying to recreate it.  I would rather have an editor
than have Bob & Ike spend another year recreating it.  Same with PGP/GPG.

>A major advantage of the integrated design is that there is only one place to
>turn to when there are problems, instead of a bunch of different widget
>makers pointing fingers at each other.  I, for one, would be more than happy
>to pay a modest fee for in-version updates just to keep development
>continuing. 

    And this is why PMMail is slowly fading into obscurity.  Bob & Ike cannot
do it alone, they cannot hire someone else to help them.  So all their users
turn to them for them to recreate features they could have in a modular
design.  In doing so they pull Bob & Ike away from the focus of PMMail being
a
*MAIL* client

    It isn't PMSpellChecker.  It isn't PMPGP.  It isn't PMEditor.  It is
PMMail.  The *ONLY* reason I use PMMail is because of the interface.

    Exim/procmail filter mail more efficiently.  Joe/Vim are better editors.
PGP/GPG intergration is external in other applications by default now. 
Aspell
is a better spell checker than all of the commercial offerings and it is less
than a year old.  But the interface on mutt/pine/elm, etc all suck and limit
me.  Hell, most of those have IMAP now, which I've been nagging them 3-4
YEARS
for.

    The interface alone is not a strong thing.  That isn't quality.

    And speaking of paying for each upgrade.  Why do you think Microsoft
muscled itself into the position its in and continues to break its own
standards?  They know that when most people upgrade, it forces the others to
upgrade.  Do you gladly pay for that?  

    PMMail cannot survive the way it is going now.  Bob & Ike simply cannot
complete with the teams of programmers on Outlook (free), Pegasus (free),
Communicator (Free) or the many mailers on Unix (all free).

    Something has to change.



- -- 
         Steve C. Lamb         | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
         ICQ: 5107343          | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
- -------------------------------+---------------------------------------------

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