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Re: [LUG] .bad apple.

 

 On 28/03/2013 14:27, Richard Brown wrote:
Hi Guys

On 28 Mar 2013, at 14:09, Brad Rogers<brad@xxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:

Just because it looks easy, doesn't mean it is.  I'm a firm believer in
the maxim "the right tool for the job".  Clearly, it seems to me, a web
browser isn't the right place to handle email.
Is email an out-dated tool? It seems a few brave souls are trying to make it work 
but is it time for a change? To what though?

Kind regards

ðRichard Brown
ðhttp://wild-woods.org.uk/
â07747 343637
ð@TheStreetYouth
Hi All,

I think there is a difference here between the tool and the function. For many - including some ISPs such as Virginmedia (NTL as was - which is why some customers still have ntlworld.com email addresses), BT etc - a standalone email client run on the user's PC is becoming an outdated concept[1]. Personally I do not like the concept of having all my private email permanently stored on a third party's server, especially given the frequency the big boys are getting hacked lately. Even with webmail accounts - and I do have some GMail accounts - the first thing I do is activate the POP3 function and tell it to delete GMail's copy once delivered to me.

I am fully aware that this defeats one of the perceived benefits of webmail, that of not having to store masses of email locally, but I personally prefer to work that way. Also on one occasion a friend lost several years worth of email from a webmail provider due, frankly, to a cockup on their end. I'm not prepared to take that risk either. True I could mess up myself, but then I'd only have myself to blame.

For many though I will concede that using a webmail account as intended is a preferable course as they can not only access all their mail accounts from anywhere with an Internet connection - or increasingly with a mobile phone signal - but they also have access to all their previously delivered email as well.

On that basis I think it is true to say that the tool, the local email client may be losing the fight.

However, email as a function I do not believe is out-dated. Yes, with the advent of more and more functionality on smartphones the ability to text is becoming more sophisticated, and you can now add attachments to emails on mobiles. However, you cannot text from a laptop or a computer, and the ability to interact with attachments received on a phone is limited to simply viewing documents. While I can open all MS Office documents on my mobile - actually having written that I'm not sure of Publisher - and PDFs, editing PDFs is not possible, and editing of Office documents is inevitably a fiddly chore on a phone keyboard. The picture isn't much better on a tablet to be honest. As for other types of attachment, pictures, CAD files, videos, etc, many can only be manipulated on a desktop computer. That in turn has the primary facility for file and information exchange of email.

Theoretically everyone in the world could have a Dropbox style system, and exchange files that way, but unless every single computer user had the same system, or a copy of every system existing, there will be failures to communicate at some point. You're also back to my original objection of having a third party storing my personal files on their servers, and by extension having access to them.

I'm sure there are holes in the above you could drive the USS Enterprise-E through sideways, but in essence my point is that I think email as a function is here to stay, while we may at some point in the future wave, in my case a reluctant, goodbye to the local standalone email client.

Julian

[1] Who remembers when an ISP account meant connection, email, usenet and webspace? Seems we're getting less for more money these days

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