On Sun, 2010-08-22 at 16:45 +0100, Philip Marks wrote: > Sirs, I have evolution preloaded on my Toshiba NB100 but have no idea > how to set it up nor how to use it or why. I already use hotmail but > want something that configures with the other ubuntu files I have. > Please dont just suggest the evolution Start upn notes because they > mean nothing to na non techy like me. I dont what a server is or > anythingelse it mentions.
It's the "why to use it" I find intriguing about your query :-) Evolution is a PIM (Personal Information Manager). It can handle your email, contacts (i.e. address book), tasks (to-do list), calendar (appointments) and so on, all from one program. It aims to cover roughly the same ground as Outlook on a Windows machine, if that means anything to you. If not, never mind. In any case I'll restrict myself to the email function as that's the most important for most people -- in fact I hardly use the other functions myself. Evolution is an email *client*, i.e. among other things it allows you to read your email in multiple accounts from different providers (including Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, your ISP, your workplace etc.), receive new mail or send messages, organize mail into folders you set up yourself, and filter incoming messages e.g. to catch spam (junk mail). So what's the difference between that and what you already do with Hotmail? Well, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and others are what's called webmail systems, i.e. you access them via a Web browser such as Firefox or Google Chrome. That means that a) you have to be online while reading or sending mail, and b) the user interface is limited to what a web browser can support. The big advantage is that it requires very little setup and can be accessed from anywhere with Internet connectivity, even from someone else's computer, e.g. if you visit a friend or go to an Internet café. This is because all the work is being done by the web server belonging to Microsoft or Google or whatever. A proper email client such as Evolution runs as a program in your own computer, not inside a browser. It can fetch mail from multiple accounts when you connect to them (these accounts live on "mail servers"), then allow you to read and reply to the mail even if the connection is broken (obviously replies aren't actually sent until there's a connection), store local copies of your mail for any kind of processing you might want, move messages from one service provider to another (if the provider allows it), encrypt or digitally sign your messages for security, etc. Many people find this highly flexible because it can handle huge quantities of mail and process it in ways no webmail system supports. However it does require more setup and at least some idea of what's going on behind the scenes in order to correct any problems that may arise. If that's not for you, and you don't have easy access to technical support, you may not want to go that way. Note that this mailing list is a good way to get such support, but a) it's completely voluntary and member-driven, and b) the response to queries often depends on how well they are posed, i.e. it's important to be able to ask a good question if you want a good answer. If you decide to reply to this, please use Reply To All so that the reply does to the list and not just to me. poc _______________________________________________ evolution-list mailing list [email protected] To change your list options or unsubscribe, visit ... http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
