>> But that would need a permanent connection to the internet, which many
>
>
> It greatly depends on the degree of IMAP support in the email client.
> IMAP is designed to permit complete disconnected operation, so that when
> you dial up, you just have to "synchronize", and it gets the local and
> server copies in harmony with each other (usually involves sending any
> local changes you've made to the server (renaming folders,
> moving/deleting/replying messages etc), and then getting updates back
> from the server (new messages, or changes made when accessing from
> another client).
>
> The offline support in mozilla mail is coming along in leaps and bounds.
>
> The downside if you used two clients on one machine is that there would
> be some redundancy in communication since they don't share the same
> local cache (as you're suggesting they should). The benefit is that you
> can very easily use more than one machine to read your mail (e.g.
> desktop, webmail, palmtop, ...)
Thanks for filling that in; as I don't have to worry about pay-per
minute, having a 'permanent' connection - even by having the modem
on-line the whole time I'm reading mail, it never occured to me about
offline mail support; kinda makes me nostalgic for my BBS'ing days...
Buy you are 100% correct. And - there is some redundancy in
communication (and filespace) but let's face it: most emails are text
and rather small in size.
I already sacrifice the extra kilobytes of hard disk space to be able to
access my e-mail the same way from any computer I'm on. Which is
espescially nice at a university where you might not have access to your
'home' computer.
