Chris at [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 7/24/03 3:38 PM -----
>Sorry to ask this here, since it is mostly off topic (lack of emailer >support for IMAP is what made me give this some thought). There are some >hotshot email people here, so I'm hoping someone can enlighten me. >Responses should probably be offlist so we don't bug everyone. > >What's the point of ISPs pushing for a switch to IMAP? I don't get it. >Maybe I am missing a fundimental ability of IMAP or something, but from >what I understood, I just don't see the point. > >I thought IMAP was really intended to allow you to leave all your email >on the server all the time. That sounds like a wonderful idea on the >surface for the user. Now you can sit anywhere with an IMAP client, log >in, and see all your email all the time. Kind of like WebMail but with a >decent client front end. > >That much I get... what I don't get is why ISPs seem to want people to >move to it (and that's probably a bit agressive of a statement since I'm >not sure how many ISPs have really attempted the switch, but it does seem >to be a trend). If the intent is to leave email on the server, aren't >ISPs just opening themselves to the headache of lots and lots of storage? >I'm not one that keeps a ton of my email, in fact, I throw out probably >90% + of it, and I still have a 70 MB or so mail database. If you figure >something like Mac.com that offers IMAP and has a million users... well, >the space requirements for even email tossers like myself is mind >boggling. Not to mention all the people that keep everything (and I >suspect keeping everything is more the norm just based on the people I >know and how little they throw out). > >Why would an ISP move towards a mail protocol that is just going to >saturate them with storage costs? Unless they intend to stick to their >current guns where they only allow 5-20 MB of email storage. Since many >(most) people will want to save their email, or at least a chunk of it, >they will constantly be downloading for offline storage anyway. So then >you are back to POP like services, so then why bother making the IMAP >switch in the first place?!? > >And then we have the bandwidth issue. If the email is stored online, then >everytime you want to reread an old email, you have to redownload it to a >local cache for display. That naturally means FAR more bandwidth as >people are constantly redownloading the same emails over and over >again... why would an ISP want to do this to themselves?!? > > >So then all I can figure is I am missing some great advantage IMAP gives >over POP. Any of you smart cookies want to enlighten me as to what makes >IMAP so great? I don't think this is off-topic, since to the extent IMAP is adopted by ISPs it hastens the obsolescence of Emailer. I had always assume _YOU_ were the smart cookie on this list, but according to IMAP's site (http://www.imap.org/about/whatisIMAP.html), key goals for IMAP include: * Be fully compatible with Internet messaging standards, e.g. MIME. * Allow message access and management from more than one computer. * Allow access without reliance on less efficient file access protocols. * Provide support for "online", "offline", and "disconnected" access modes * * Support for concurrent access to shared mailboxes * Client software needs no knowledge about the server's file store format. The protocol includes operations for creating, deleting, and renaming mailboxes; checking for new messages; permanently removing messages; setting and clearing flags; server-based RFC-822 and MIME parsing (so clients don't need to), and searching; and selective fetching of message attributes, texts, and portions thereof for efficiency. There's a very nice comparison of the two protocols at http://www.imap.org/papers/imap.vs.pop.brief.html But at the risk of being cynical, ISPs are pushing for IMAP because growth in the email provider market it slowing down, and instead of marketing the email services they have to market a new and improved service, even if it isn't all that new or really improved. I believe this is called the "maturation" of a market. Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Add in that ISPs can restructure prices to try for more income ("the first 5 MB of email storage is free, after that it costs...") and you probably have reason enough. Jim ------------------------------------------------------------- James D. DeWitt Voice: (907) 452-8986 Icicle Software Fax: (907) 452-7015 PO Box 72750 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fairbanks, Alaska 99707 http://www.iciclesoftware.com ------------------------------------------------------------- ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
