Should I Use Netscape Mail?
NETSCAPE E-MAIL TOPICS How Netscape Mail Works Configuring Netscape Mail LEARNING MORE Browsing the Web Downloading Files Reading Netnews Electronic Mail Using Helper Applications and Plug-Ins BACK TO... Netscape QuickGuide Home Page		Although Netscape has many attractive mail management features, it may not be the right solution for everyone's e-mail needs. Please read and understand the following advantages and disadvantages thoroughly before deciding to try Netscape Mail. Only you can decide which of them is relevant to your own situation. CUNIX space quotas If you use Pine, all of your mail must fit into your CUNIX account storage quota. If it doesn't, you will not be able to read new mail until you remove files or old mail messages from your account. If you use Netscape Mail, however, all of your mail will be downloaded to your microcomputer rather than to your CUNIX home directory. This means that you can receive and store large quantities of e-mail without regard for CUNIX space quotas; however, you will need to be concerned about storage space on your own microcomputer. Backups If you use Pine, your e-mail is stored in your CUNIX home directory. AcIS can provide a certain amount of security for your mail files through normal CUNIX backup procedures. If you lose or accidentally delete mail files, the chances are good that AcIS can restore them. If you use Netscape Mail, however, your e-mail will be stored on your own microcomputer; therefore these files will not be backed up by AcIS. You will be responsible for backing up your own mail files just as you are your word processing files. If you lose or accidentally delete mail files, you will be responsible for restoring them from your own backups. If you don't do regular backups, your lost mail will be lost forever. Offline mail management When you use Netscape Mail, you only need to be connected to the Columbia mail server during the time your new mail is being downloaded to your microcomputer. For those of you who must make a long-distance phone call to connect, this feature can be a money-saver. You can connect to download your mail and then immediately disconnect. You can then spend as long as you want reading your mail offline and queuing up any responses or new messages you want to send without incurring any additional phone charges. When you are ready to send your messages, you can reconnect to the server for the short time it takes to send them. Remote access If you use Pine on CUNIX to manage your e-mail, your mail files are stored on a central computer system (CUNIX) that can be accessed from anywhere--home or office, residence hall room or computer lab. If you use Netscape Mail, however, you lose this advantage. Your e-mail will be stored on your own microcomputer and you will not be able to access your stored mail files from other locations. If you can divide the locations where you want to access e-mail easily into a primary location, where you will store all of your mail, and secondary location(s), where you might want to check new mail but not view old mail, you may still be able to use Netscape Mail. (Note that you must use Netscape in all locations to manage your e-mail; you cannot switch back and forth between Pine and Netscape. See below for further instructions.) Interface If you use Pine for your e-mail, you need to know some basic UNIX commands to be able to manage your files. If you use Netscape for your e-mail (and if you haven't been using CUNIX for anything but e-mail), you may rarely if ever need to log into your CUNIX account. Instead, you will use a program -- Netscape -- with a graphic interface similar to others you use on your Macintosh or Windows PC. Tasks such as printing mail messages, sending word processing files as part of mail messages, editing text within mail messages you compose, and copying text between mail messages and other files on your microcomputer will probably seem much more straightforward. Simplicity Using Netscape for your e-mail also means that you will be able to use a single program for many of your Internet access needs -- for browsing the WorldWide Web, for downloading files, for reading netnews, and for managing your e-mail. You have only one program to learn, one program to maintain and upgrade when necessary, and one program to store on your hard drive. Privacy If you use Pine on CUNIX to manage your e-mail, your stored messages are protected by the security system of CUNIX. An account ID and password are required before anyone can see the mail stored in your account. However, mail stored on a microcomputer which uses Netscape is no more secure than any other files you store there. Although a computer account ID and password must be provided before new mail can be accessed and downloaded, Netscape does not require a password to display old mail stored on your computer. If you are concerned about this privacy issue and you don't wish to store your mail on floppy disks which you can lock up, Netscape may not be for you. As you can see, there are many advantages which make Netscape seem to be a much better choice than Pine for managing your electronic mail. However, if you need to have access to all of your e-mail (both new arriving mail and older stored messages) from multiple locations, if you are concerned about the privacy of your stored mail, or if you don't want the responsibility of backing up your own mail files, it would probably be wise to use Pine on CUNIX to manage your e-mail instead of Netscape.
		Academic Information Systems [email protected] - 14 April 1998 - 212.854.1919