IMAP offline mode

[mikebw at colossus.bilow.com (Mike Bilow)]

On 2000-05-24 at 01:24 -0400, Derek Martin wrote:

> OK, I see the problem... I could find no such option on any menu.
> According to the Netscape help, this is because only the WINDOWS
> version of communicator has this function.  We're a Linux company.
> 
> Grrrrr!

Well, you didn't SAY that!  Why would you use Netscape as a mail reader on
Unix, anyway?  It's really awful.  Admittedly, even on Windows, Netscape
Messenger is ten times better than MS Outlook Express, but that is hardly
saying much.  Recent versions of Netscape Messenger do really egregious
things, such as display advertising for the Netscape CD in the preview
pane before you read the first message.

> everything they can to make sure Netscape were superlative on Unix
> platforms, since they would seem to have a HUGE opportunity here (as IE
> doesn't or didn't run on most Unices, as far as I know). Andreesen and Co.
> have obviously forgotten their roots. :(

I am not sure there is anyone left at Netscape who remembers Unix.

> Mike, since I can't look myself (now that my Windows installation on my
> Halflife computer has become unusable, I no longer run Windows AT ALL),
> and you've obviously used it, can you please elaborate a little and tell
> me where to find this wonderous, mystical menu item?

I will have to look.  Unfortunately, I am right now logged in from my
regular desktop, which runs OS/2.  I only have Netscape Messenger
configured on my notebooks, which run Windows.

As for MS Outlook Express, its IMAP implementation is non-functional.  I
made an interesting discovery when I configured my Windows 2000 notebook
to autodial the Internet on demand, and then set Outlook Express to
off-line mode and instructed it to poll every 15 minutes. I figured, of
course, that this would result in my notebook dialing up every 15 minutes,
downloading new mail, and disconnecting.  That is, in fact, what happened.  
Unfortunately, when I went to read the new mail, Outlook Express dutifully
tried to mark the message as "read," which is a server operation in IMAP,
so it dialed up, set the "read" flag on the message, and disconnected --
for each message as I read it.  This was not quite what I intended.

-- Mike


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