Friday, May 19, 2000, 9:04:17 AM, A. wrote:
> Thanks to all for the MUA advice. I can see that I'm going to have to learn
> some new things (again), like MTAs. Linux has an amazing ability to laugh at
> your years as a computer professional make you feel like an idiot.
Actually I'd not do that. This is the one area where I think the unix
community gets it backwards. They proudly proclaim that there are three
separate processes involved with mail. The MTA, MDA and MUA. They say all
three should be separate at all times.
However, look at it another way. The email client is the /only/ client
that doesn't transfer its own data! We don't have the Web User Agent that
relies upon the Web Transfer Agent to retrieve web pages, do we? No. We
don't have the FTP User Agent relying upon the FTP Transfer Agent to make the
actual transfer of data possible, do we? No. We don't have a News Users
Agent relying upon a News Transport Agent to send to a News Delivery Agent to
score/filter the news so we can read it, do we? No.
We have web proxies, FTP proxies and leaf news servers. However, in each
case they are not /required/ for operation of the client software, they can
just be added to the software for more robust operation /if needed/. They the
hell, then, do we make a glaring exception that email is the only /client/
that requires a proxy-like operation to be considered "normal". Just like the
other services it should be able to pull/filter and send its own data /as well
as/ make allowances for more robust, external programs to perform those
functions.
--
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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