Email: Explained (POP vs IMAP)

I get lots of questions about how to setup email. While the software vendors have made this a pretty painless endeavor these days the consumer still needs to know a bit to accomplish the behavior they desire.

First off for those people that are still on CompuServe or AOL. End your subscription and get one of the many great free email services that exist. I've used all the major ones since their creation (HotMail, Yahoo, Gmail). And the reason that I use them is not because they are free. It's because simply they are better than any other web interface for sending email that is available (paid or otherwise). My personal preference is Gmail because the search is excellent and the interface is minimal. But they all provide very generous storage, excellent interfaces and POP and IMAP access (more on this later).

Gmail even has a free hosted option if you want to have a personalized domain name such as myemail@widgetsforsale.com . You can set those up here if you have an existing domain name or if you purchase one through them.

Once you have one of these great options. Now you need to know about POP and IMAP. These are the different protocols for accessing (not sending) your email. POP is old but most widely used. POP simply provides the emails as is to the client. However if you have multiple computers which you use Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird on and you use POP then it will not preserve your read marks. It will simply download all the mail every time you fetch it.

If you get a significant amount of mail. Resorting it every time you sit on different computers is too much of a pain. IMAP is the solution for you. It maintains your read marks whether you check it on your phone, laptop or desktop. It also maintains your folders. So if you are one of those organizers then this is a must have. (you'll need to indicate which folders you want to synchronize on the client that you use).

Why use a desktop client? Well several reasons:

• You can't paste an image into the body of an email on any of the online web clients.
• You can't integrate with Outlook calendar or other clients calendar solutions.
• You can't drag highlight multiple emails and move or delete them (Yahoo is an exception here)
• You can't work offline on a plane

As Silverlight and Flash get better these differences will disappear and there will be no super compleing reason to not simply use an online client. But for now if the online client does what you need it to use that.

If it does not then my suggestion is to use one of the free email providers for your email and setup Outlook or Thunderbird with IMAP so that you can preserve your folders and "read marks" and stars.

Ignore the default setup of Thunderbird and configure it manually because it will use POP by default if you select that option. Here is a video of how to set it up.

If you already have Outlook I would suggest using it because it has calendar and contacts built in.

If you start using thunderbird or Outlook you may find yourself irritated that you don't' have all the contacts that autocomplete when you are using your web client. If you are using Gmail there is a solution, but it's not for the faint of heart that don't like to follow instructions. But if you're willing to simply follow the readme you'll be fine.

http://gcaldaemon.sourceforge.net/usage4.html

Please post any comments or suggestions you have for another article.

Buying a new Personal Computer?

First of for the majority of the non-specialist that already have a computer. You probably don't need one at all. But if you are dead set on getting something new and shiny you should at least talk to someone who is knowledgable first.

Also this is not to endorse any brand. I'm a pragmitist by nature and I'm always up for suggestions.

If you're existing computer is slow and bogged down you might can con one of your good friends into doing some work on it. If you find someone with some talent they can likely get it running nearly as good as when you first purchased it, and if your needs don't extend beyond email and surfing the web, and writing an occasional paper Windows XP or OS X is probably just fine.

Laptops
If you're decision in the past has based off what's in the commercials and what color to get then I have good news. If you aren't a gamer, and don't frequently do video & photo editing I dont' think you can purchase a computer these days that won't perform well for your needs. The cheapest system on dell these days ($512) has 1 gig of RAM and a DVD-RW, which is plenty for anyone who doesn't already know that their needs extend past that.

So those days where you call in and they ask you do you like music are kind of a mute point at this stage unless you are an audiophil of some sort, because the default configuration of their cheapest model has a DVD burner which will not only burn CD's but DVDs as well.

In fact we are reaching the stage where most things are pushed into the cloud. If you are the type of person that only needs email, IM, word processing and a browser. Then Ubuntu is free and does all those things with the basic install with no configuration. Linux isn't what it used to be. At this point it's quite easy to use and even the installation is as easy or easier than most operating systems out there. You don't have to know anything about your hardware to install it these days. If you are on Dell or some of the other manufactorers you can order them without an operating system and save yourself some cash. But given the deal you are given on it when packaged with hardware I would probably go ahead and get it.

Apple is taking quite a hold of the market these days. However they target a wealthy consumer starting at $1099. This isn't a bash on Mac, they have excellent hardware and software. However if you are a thrifty windows user that wants to convert you may find it very expensive. If you have existing application that don't have a version which works on the Mac then you'll need to run VMware Fusion ($80) or Parellels in order to run windows in a virtual machine. (VMware Fusion is the definite choice as it manages your hardware better and can even allow you to make windows programs appear in a native mac window). Not to mention that you have to purchase a windows license if you don't have one already that you can use. And lastly you probably won't be happy with the preformance of a MacBook Pro while running Windows in a Virtual machine with now puts your laptop up upwards of $2k.

Dual booting in my opinion is not an option. I'm not personally willing to close all my programs and restart just to use 1 program as well as install a duplicate of other programs I wish to use when I already have a suitable version in the other Operating System.

Desktops

I honestly believe that desktops are for working, or gaming. If you are thinking of picking one or the other, then you'll likely be happier with a laptop since you can take it with you. If you use a computer for your profession I would highly suggest a desktop for your day to day use unless you are a road warrior.

I see lots of companies simply purchasing their employees laptops these days and having them use that at their desk. I think this is a mistake for one reason. Screen real-estate.

If you have a desktop, get a graphics card that supports dual monitors. If both of your monitors are DVI then I would advise getting a dual DVI graphics card. You don't need a good one unless you play games.

Having two monitors is the largest productivity boost you can give yourself after learning how to touch type.

For Gamers and other enthusist I really like what I see over at Puget Custom Computers. It looks like they have great support and tracking on all of their products. Also they will overclock your cpu and put aftermarket heatsinks on them for maximum performance.

Majove Criticism defended.

For those of you that haven't see the little ad, Microsoft has a new campaign to dispell all of the bad press it has received with Vista.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/28/microsofts-mojave-experiment-promotes-vista-ashton-kutcher/

But all over the place it has gotten bad press. Nobody seems to take up for Microsoft lately and in many people's eyes they can simply do no right. In many ways lately Microsoft has behaved more transparently and more benevolently than many of it's competitors. Giving away a large amount of software these days and contributing to open source and the developer community have really led me to love Microsoft as a company. Corporations do and should try to make money as they have a responsibility to do for their shareholders and employees. Apple has no apologies for this and I don't see why everyone thinks that Microsoft has a responsibility to.

Microsoft stands idly by while Apple continues to makes slanderous commercials. Microsoft can't resort to that because not only do we have the reminents of the Slashdot community bashing them we also have a growing number of Mac Zealots joining in.First of all companies have every right to use whatever marketing ploys they choose. Microsoft never claimed this used proper scientific method etc. This is not an independant study. But there are people that harp on that fact.Personally I simply think it's unethical to attack a competitor so explicitly as in the Mac commercials.

Most people associate Vista with a dirty word and other than device drivers (which have caught up quickly) there is no justification. Having signed device drivers has got to cost Microsoft a fortune and they are doing it for the consumer's benefit, so that they can have a stable experience. Microsoft doesn't have the luxury of being able to operate only 10 possible hardware configurations.

Microsoft could attack back but they choose to turn the other cheek with this campaign. If I would choose any word to describe it it would be noble; given the circumstances. It's just as easy to point out the downsides of Macs. There could be Microsoft sponsered commercials with themes like... "Mac's great until you wanna play a game", or "It's great if you like spending twice as much on hardware and still have to purchase a windows license for parellels in order to run quickbooks".

Which for the most part would be more constructive. At least it would portray honest concerns instead of (Hi I'm windows and I'm dorky compared to this cool kid).