Re: tlug: IMAP

[Frank Bennett <bennett@example.com>]

"Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com> writes:

> Offline mailreading is no different for IMAP than POP---you still
> leave a copy on the local machine.

That's good to know; if IMAP supports offline reading, then one
protocol handles both in-office and at-home reading.  Good news.

> So the _most_ important consideration for you is not the server, but
> the clients.  If the clients download all mail to disk, then read them 
> (normal case, I should think), then privacy cannot be protected unless 
> users learn to delete local copies.

For _privacy_, client configuration will be important.  But the
other part of the chaos arises from the Hobson's choice under
Pop3 of either deleting everything that's downloaded to the
client machine, or leaving it in place to clog up the works.  In
other words, Pop3 _always_ behaves as an offline reader, whether
that makes any sense or not.  After the client grabs the mail, it
doesn't want to know about the server, even if both client and
server are on the same network and can speak with each other as
much and as often as they like.

An IMAP server seems to promise (the possibility of) better
management when a user accesses the same mailbox(es) from
multiple clients in real time (i.e. a student might read his or
her mail from any one of ten terminals in the building here; an
IMAP client can report back to the server on which messages have
been read and so forth, so that this info is available when the
mailbox is opened from a different location --- transparent
behavior like that is easy to explain to users, and that cuts
down on support time).

That's the more serious problem --- if people let their mail
spill out into public spaces, they're entitled to have the
problem and possible solutions explained to them once, in a memo.
After that ... am I my brother's keeper?

> Or you force them to use readers that don't make them in the first
> place.

Can't, with Pop3 clients like Eudora and Netscape (or am I
missing something...?).  And I am not going to get into the game
of trying to persuade my users (whom I never see in one place at
one time) to use a mail client that is not aglow with the halo of
popularity.  At the end of the day, all I have full control over
is the server side, and I want to be sure that it provides the
best possible service.  IMAP seems to offer a one-stop shopping
solution to the Faculty's needs, so I'm trying to chart the
territory before rolling up my sleeves and putting in the time
required to set it up.

Anyone had any experience with converting to an IMAP server?

Cheers,
-- 
-x80
Frank G Bennett, Jr         @@
Faculty of Law, Nagoya Univ () email: bennett@example.com
Tel: +81[(0)52]789-2239     () WWW:   http://rumple.soas.ac.uk/~bennett/
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