From 4b6c0e31385f5f27a151088c0a2b614495c4e589 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Duncan Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:47:50 -0400 Subject: initial commit, including theme --- .../posts/2004-10-10-response-to-wp-article.html | 96 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 96 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/posts/2004-10-10-response-to-wp-article.html (limited to 'content/posts/2004-10-10-response-to-wp-article.html') diff --git a/content/posts/2004-10-10-response-to-wp-article.html b/content/posts/2004-10-10-response-to-wp-article.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06ff422 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/2004-10-10-response-to-wp-article.html @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +--- +date: "2004-10-10T12:47:04Z" +title: Response to WP Article +--- + +Here's an email I just sent in response to this Washington Post article. + + +
+

+Hi Rob, +

+ +

+I just read "Internet Providers Should Find Their Way to IMAP" [1], your +article on migrating email from POP3 to IMAP. I'm a UNIX system +administrator and programmer by day, and, as a hobby, I provide email +and web site hosting for a handful of family members, friends, and small +businesses. I'd like to share my experience configuring various mail +servers (also referred to as daemons), and offer some advice for readers +asking about IMAP or looking for a decent email client, and for ISPs +touting the high cost of providing IMAP service. +

+ +

+For readers looking for a decent email client, I recommend Mozilla +Thunderbird [2]. Thunderbird is free, easy to use, and available for +several operating systems. Thunderbird is also small (about the size +of a decent quality MP3 file), and easy to install; my parents were able +to switch from Outlook to Thunderbird without any assistance from me or +their ISP. Best of all, Thunderbird is immune to existing email worms +and viruses, has powerful built-in spam filtering, supports signed and +encrypted email, and can communicate with secure email servers (POP3s +and IMAPs). Oh, Mac users might want to try Mail [3], which comes +pre-installed in recent versions of MacOS and supports many of the +features I mentioned above. +

+ +

+As for ISPs, offering IMAP can be a real pain. Three of the most +popular IMAP daemons are Cyrus IMAPd, Courier IMAPd, and UW-IMAP [4]. +The problem with all of them is essentially the same: each requires +complicated and haphazard configuration, and none integrate gracefully +with existing server configurations. For example, the IMAP daemons +listed above store email messages on the server in MH or Maildir format, +while most UNIX systems and POP3 daemons store email messages in mbox +format. +

+ +

+The solution? An IMAP daemon called Dovecot [5]. Dovecot is a free +POP3 and IMAP daemon which supports mbox and Maildir mail spool formats, +supports IMAPs and POP3s, and is incredibly easy to set up. In Debian +Linux [6], Dovecot basically configures itself. Dovecot also supports +the most common user authentication schemes out of the box: PAM, +/etc/passwd, and LDAP. Dovecot works great in Linux and Solaris (the +two most common UNIX variants used by ISPs), and also in other operating +systems such as FreeBSD and MacOS. +

+ +

+I'm available to answer questions from readers about IMAP and IMAP +daemons. I can be reached via email at pabs@pablotron.org or +paul@paulduncan.org. +

+ +

+References: +

+ +
    +
  1. "Internet Providers Should Find Their Way to IMAP": http://tinyurl.com/5kzbc
    2. +
  2. Mozilla Thunderbird: http://mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
    3. +
  3. Apple Mail: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail/
    4. +
  4. Cyrus, Courier, and UW-IMAP: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/imapd/, + http://www.courier-mta.org/, and http://www.washington.edu/imap/ + (respectively)
    5. +
  5. Dovecot: http://www.dovecot.org/
    6. +
  6. Debian Linux: http://www.debian.org/
    7. +
+ +

+--
+Paul Duncan <pabs@pablotron.org>
+http://www.pablotron.org/ +

+
+ +

+Update: Changed the WP +URL to a TinyURL link instead, in order to fix +page reflow. +

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