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Spend time now or you may really pay later...Jul 16 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Software
The Bottom Line Look before you leap! Breaking up is hard to do -- they don't like to let go (of your data). Each has features the others don't. Try before you commit.
Recently, I decided to go shopping for a new Inbox. I've used Microsoft's Outlook for years because I needed to use it to access corporate email. Currently I use Internet email and want something a little lighter on system resources. I took a look at some alternatives: In brief: I found that switching email clients may mean giving up old messages and addressees. If you don't care about old mail, and if you are using only Internet email (such as the email address your Internet provider gives you and/or some of the free email services, like Yahoo) there are several popular choices you can download for free. If you want a PIM (personal information manager), including a calendar to manager your appointments, an address book for contacts, and to-do lists you'll pay, one way or another. Switching from one email client to another can be very difficult, if not impossible, depending on how many old emails, addresses and whatnots you've got stored and which client has the stuff you want to keep. The various clients aren't on good speaking terms. They don't want to share the same computer -- let alone share your information. In the end, I elected to stay with the client I had. I cleared out some unread mail in my Inbox and deleted some old stuff I no longer needed to improve performance. A quick look at the contenders available for Windows: Microsoft Outlook A full-featured PIM (personal information manager - calendar, to do, contacts) in addition to email. Outlook is part of Microsoft Office and may be your only choice if you need to be compatible with co-workers or clients who use Microsoft email and scheduling services. Outlook can send to and receive email from virtually any email client, and can be customized (if you've got a bit of programming experience or a lot of free time) to suit the needs of small to large businesses. Outlook can import from more programs than other email clients I've seen. If you have Microsoft Office, you have Outlook. Outlook's net folders allow you to share information, schedule meetings, and user other Exchange Server type features using just your Internet connection. Outlook may be too complicated and inflexible, particularly for home or home/small office users. Drawbacks: It is large, taking up disk space and memory (RAM); this can be a problem if you spend a lot of time using other hogs like photo editors, desktop publishing software or multimedia. Your data (emails, personal contacts, etc.) is stored in a single file in a folder you didn't create (varies for different versions of Windows). You may lose your data if your system becomes corrupt or if you move to a new computer. Typically, Microsoft does not document the process for changing the location, although it can be done. It doesn't offer features for managing multiple email accounts; all new messages from all email accounts go to the same inbox, use the same stationery and signature options, and all replies will be sent from your default email. It is difficult to setup and use for inexperienced users; many features are geared towards large companies with full-time support staff. Outlook imports from many other programs, but exporting is very limited. Even Microsoft Outlook Express isn't fully compatible. Once your email checks in, it may never check out. If you don't have Microsoft Office, buying Outlook separately will set you back over $100. Qualcomm Eudora Eudora has been around for about as long as personal email, or at least since the Internet became useable for regular folks. Eudora can still be downloaded for free. If you don't want to pay a registration fee, you can use all of Eudora's features, but you'll have advertising displayed while the program is running. Eudora lets you manage multiple email accounts using its "personalities" feature. You can create a personality for each email account, so your home email and your work email can have different appearance options, reply addresses, signature files, etc. You can still read, send and receive email from all accounts simultaneously, but email sent to Grandma@YourSite.Com will be replied to from Grandma, not Cousin Fred. Eudora also includes file sharing features that allow a single file to be accessed from different computers, as long as those computers have the current version of Eudora. The feature allows several users to access the same files or one user to keep a file synchronized on different computers. Eudora is very customizable and may be the best choice for anyone who has to work with a large volume of email from one or more Internet accounts. It does not have Outlook's PIM features, but it uses less space and memory, while providing more robust and easier to customize account management features. Eudora still has more email features than Outlook and for free (with ads). If you don't want to see the ads, you can get a licensed version for about $40. Drawbacks: Importing from Outlook is possible but with limitations. You need to empty the deleted items folder and if you have a lot of saved email and other files in multiple Outlook folders you may have to delete quite a bit before the import will work. Eudora is an Internet email client; you can only use standard Internet email services (the email provided with your Internet Service or some free services like Yahoo). If your work email is Microsoft Exchange based, you'll need to use Outlook for that account. If you are used to Outlook, Eudora will take some time to learn. You will have to use separate software to manage appointments and to do items. Microsoft Outlook Express Outlook Express is a part of Internet Explorer. If you have a recent version of Windows, you probably already have Outlook Express. The latest version, 5.5 provides email account management features that allow you to maintain separate "identities" for each email account or user. Identities can be password protected, so that several users can access email on the same computer while maintaining privacy. Outlook stationery and signatures are also available to spruce up your email. Simplified versions of Outlook's rules let you block senders and organize email. Outlook Express will also handle your newsgroups. If you are familiar with Outlook, Outlook Express will be quite comfy. If you have Outlook to access email from work, and manage your schedule, Outlook Express will co-exist peacefully to handle your household email. You can share Outlook's contacts with Outlook Express, or use a separate address book. If you use identities, you can have separate address books for each identity. Outlook Express has become a full-featured Internet email client. It is the best choice for families or single home users who use multiple Internet email accounts but don't need Eudora's features. The multiple account management options aren't available in Outlook and Outlook Express doesn't give up much in the way of email features. Best of all, it is free, with no ads. Drawbacks: Although it looks a lot like Outlook, it handles Internet email and newsgroups only. You will need a separate program to manage appointments and to-do items. It comes as part of Internet Explorer, which you'll need to install first, although you don't have to use IE to browse if you don't want to. Your saved mail and address book information is stored in a folder you didn't create (varies for different versions of Windows). You can change the location to a folder you back up, but the command to do that is hard to find. Unless you remember to do that for each account you create, you may lose your data if your system becomes corrupt or if you move to a new computer. Free means you don't get many technical support options. Microsoft's web site is huge and searching for information is often a weekend project. Netscape 6 I'm including this because I want to be clear that I did not overlook Netscape. Earlier this year (2001) I used Netscape 6 during the testing phase for a web project. Fortunately, I didn't have to use my own computer to test Netscape 6 and neither should you. Six is an unlucky number for Microsoft's competitors. Those of you who remember upgrading to Wordperfect 6 know what I mean. How do these things happen? See Dilbert.  |
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by texas-swede
