5/3 In the light of what happened recently, should I stop using soda
for any important communications and get a gmail account instead?
\_ FYI, I am making my ISP account (Comcast) my main e-mail point.
My problem with gmail is that the From: address is automagically
replaced with your @gmail.com address, whereas I can make it
whatever I want with Comcast as long as I authenticate.
I do realize Comcast is the source of most zombie spam.
This is after having used soda as my main mail account since '92.
Props to all the undergrads who have kept soda up, anyway.
\_ Comcast is a bad idea. Comcast is a spam target and also means
you are tied to that ISP. Better to convert to gmail.
\_ because, you know, gmail isn't a spam target. -tom
\_ No, but it does have good spam filtering built-in.
Still, what is a good reason for using comcast over
gmail? I'd rather use soda. Or <DEAD>cal.berkeley.edu<DEAD>.
\_ I don't use comcast, but web interfaces to email
suck, and gmail still doesn't offer IMAP, right? -tom
\_ Well, gmail is faster than any other webmail I've
used, and the searching/labeling/filtering system
is pretty good. Gmail is the only webmail I've used
that I could put up with daily... although I still
only use it for certain things. Maybe eventually
they will have IMAP. I saw some kind of beta 3rd
party attempts at providing IMAP gmail access.
Shrug.
\_ "web interfaces to email suck" ?? what are you
talking about? gmail is easy to use, has key-
board shortcuts and is accessible from anywhere
without worrying about ssh'ing or crap like that
\_ One drawback of web mail is that if you don't
access it within X time, your account can
go byebye. Although gmail's 9 months is I think
much longer than any other free webmail.
\_ Let me be more explicit; non-web GUI mail clients
have better interfaces than web-based mail
clients. It can be useful to have access to
a web-based client, but the web interface is
signficantly less effective for day-to-day
activity. -tom
\_ gmail supports POP/SMTP, so you can use
other email clients like outlook and
mac mail client.
\_ but not with multiple mailboxes, so
what's the point? -tom
\_ Most people stopped using soda for important communications a
long time ago.
\_ Yes, it's pretty obvious that gmail will be more reliable for
things like that. I use both.
\_ I echo the op's concerns and am switching to my primary e-mail to my
ISP as well (SBC). If you lived in a neighborhood for 10 years,
loved it, then all of a sudden couldn't get access to your house for
2 weeks because their was a break-in, while the local police was
processing your paperwork, I would move. Again, not enough praise
can be given to those volunteering their time and effort to maintaining
this environment. It's a testament that it's has as much uptime as it
does. But as your primary account, it would be awful to go
through that again. I think free e-mail services are risky because
they can start charging at anytime or start going downhill
(ie. Hotmail). If you are happy with your ISP and plan to use them for
awhile, why not go with them, at least you have greater control of the
risks.
\_ I'm still using soda for most things just because, it's really
nice to be able to hand someone an email address you can be
fairly sure will still be there in 5 years.
\_ Why not just register your own domain ($2 to $30/year), and
point it at a cheap virtualhosting/email provider ($10 to
$50/month)? -dans
\_ because there are free, or already-paid-for alternatives. |
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