The fact is the medium-sized enterprises need their own mail server and ADSL to handle the volume of mail. And the fact is that static IP with ADSL if freaking expensive here. These are the realities. You may not consider this a serious usage of MTA but the people concerned do. And I agree with them. They have a problem caused by UK ADSL providers and it is a problem which needs a solution. If ADSL weren't so flaky here, it wouldn't be a problem, but it is.
ADSL is not a reliable backbone medium. Secondly, ADSL service guarantees are generally along the lines of 'if it goes down, we'll get someone out to check it within 24 hours, and we'll see if we can fix it'. A T1 (would that be an E1 over there?) generally has service guarantees that are measured in single digit hours, and they will keep working on it until it's fixed. I'm speaking of course from a U.S. perspective - please correct me if i'm wrong (i know you will ;^)
If you are doing _serious_ email, you don't use an unreliable backbone medium. The definition of _serious_ should be obvious. There are people who rely upon their email for their livelyhood. There are people who *must* receive their email reliably, on time, every time.
There are also a great many people for whom reliable email service is not a significant priority.
> anyone who intends to transport significant amounts of mail, reliably, > does not do so on a dynamic IP.
ADSL is *expensive* here. ADSL with static IP is *freaking expensive*. What do you suggest as an alternative? Hint: "It can't be done so just stop getting e-mail" is not an answer our customers are going to accept.
no, you tell them "we cannot promise reliable delivery of email if you host it on an unreliable backbone line. we would recommend that you host your email elsewhere".
> but its rather like complaining that a semi-truck trailer makes a poor > minivan.
How about pointing out that both have wheels and while minivan comes with the tools that allow you to change punctures, the DJB semi has features that prevent you EVER changing a puncture?
but of course, a single puncture on that minivan incapacitates it. The semi, being designed for reliability, has multiple, redundant sets of axles and wheels and tires, so a single blowout doesn't cause a catastrophe.
picking at a metaphor usually leaves a nasty scab. so i'll leave it there...
> >And if it weren't for DJB's stubbornness, its usage might actually > >be growing instead of steadily declining. > > citations?
We run a qmail mirror and traffic is declining.
that could be due to any number of factors, few directly related to the actual growth or decline in usage of qmail. neither is it an empirical or definitive test of same. better to say "i believe that qmail usage is dropping, but i have no evidence".
Look at just about any comparison of *nix MTAs and qmail is near the bottom.
comparisons are not a measure of whether the usage of an MTA is growing or declining.
I know a couple of ways of identifying qmail even when the greetings message has been changed and patches have removed other obvious identifications and by my reckoning Hotmail no longer uses qmail (but probably still doesn't use Exchange).
so you have no proof, correct? not trying to badger you, but the fact is, you've expressed an opinion that you believe qmail is not growing in usage. that's fine, and is your privilege. it is not a fact, however.
> I wouldn't want to entrust my important email to anyone who is unwilling > or unable to deal with the 'steep' learning curve of qmail.
You are a techy. As am I. Microsoft sell something that people can install on a machine in their office to handle their mail. An idiot can install it. Microsoft promise (hah!) that it is reliable. You can pay peanuts to a monkey to install it. While you and I may want people who know what they're doing to install a reliable MTA, most of our customers want the features offered by Exchange and do not understand the hidden costs but see that they even the toilet cleaner could install it.
that's fine. one can always attempt to disabuse the customer of their misunderstanding of the situation. and of course, when they come crying at your doorstep in the middle of the night because their whitebox PC with a single IDE disk in it on an ADSL line crashed and had to be wiped clean, taking with it a years worth of critical email (who backs up their PC!?), then you can say "i told you so". then you charge them up the yinyang for some reliable email service. ;^)
but there are lots of cusomters taken in by MS bullshit.
that's really what it all boils down to, i'd say.
Paul Theodoropoulos http://www.anastrophe.com
