Webmail: The End of Email Clients?
- 2003.01.17
Low End Mac Reader Specials Memory To Go Special: New 2008 iMac 2GB $42 / iMac Intel Core2 DUO & MacBook Pro 2GB $36 - 1GB $20. MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94 -- Free shipping available. Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video
Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free
Tryout: www.typestyler.com  LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.
OWC: Burn DVDs, DVD-DL, CDs, DVD-Ram - FAST! Superdrive upgrades from OWC starting from $31.99 with options for nearly every Mac. Models with Lightscribe, Blu-Ray too! Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.  Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.  MacPro Memory 667Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $ 82 / 4GB $128 / 8GB $256 - Click to Maximize your Macs...
Several years ago, an email application was considered necessary
to send and receive email. Within the past few years, companies
have started developing Web-based email (or webmail) for those who
want to check their email on the road.
How well do these work, and what are some of their features?
Most major email and Internet service providers now offer
webmail in addition to their standard POP3 email services that can
be used with clients such as Outlook Express, Apple Mail, and
Eudora.
Most of them offer standard plain text email, and some also
offer HTML support. I don't like to use HTML in email as it
increases the size of the message and the time it takes for it to
load, but it's a nice option to have anyway.
When webmail started becoming popular, attachments were not
completely supported. Now, almost all popular webmail services
allow you to attach files. But how well does this work?
I've been having problems with EarthLink's file attachment
feature on Earthlink
Webmail. There have been many instances where I have tried
to send Word documents to people, only to have them open up with
garbled text on the other side - but receiving a Word document in
ELN webmail works fine.
To be fair, Earthlink is just about to release a new version of
its webmail software, but at time of writing, it is not yet
available.
America Online is another one that does Web-based email, and it
works quite well, with the exception of being a little bit slow. Of
course, AOL (as usual) assumes that you have the fastest, most
modern computer on the planet - and designs its software to make
you want a new one.
AOL's web-based email isn't too bad. The interface is simple -
very similar to that of the email section of the AOL application -
which makes it very simple for someone who has had little
experience with other email applications to use it.
Optimum Online Webmail
Optimum
Online, our local broadband Internet provider, also now
provides webmail. It works extremely well, offers many options (you
can even change the color of the interface), and, most importantly,
is fast, even on a slow computer. Speed is one of the biggest
complaints I have among webmail services. They tend to slow down
already slow computers, making reading email a pain.
The Low End Mac staff and columnists have webmail, and even
though I haven't checked it in a while (my apologies to those who
have sent me an email, I will get back to you), it's very fast and
works easily as well as Optimum Online's.
Why Use Webmail?
But why use webmail when you can get more features (saving
messages, sorting and filtering, spam protection) from email
clients?
Webmail is extremely convenient. You can check your email from
any computer anywhere. As a user of multiple computers, I find this
extremely appealing. When I want to check my mail on my PC, for
example, I don't need to download the messages I already downloaded
on my G4 just to see if I have new mail. I can simply connect to
webmail and check.
Webmail is also good to use if you are worried about viruses.
While it can't protect you completely, it doesn't download any
attachments to your computer without you asking it to do so first.
Outlook Express and Apple Mail will download the file while you are
downloading your email. I use webmail often when I am on my PC,
since I find that antivirus software slows it down too much for my
tastes. Plus, I'm not a big fan of Outlook Express.
Webmail is a nice thing to have in this fast paced world where
we can find ourselves anywhere at any time.
But does it replace the email client? For me it is very close to
doing so.
Recent Apple Archive articles- iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07.
Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
- Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19.
Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
- Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14.
The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
- Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02.
Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
- More in the Apple Archive index.
Links for the Day- Mac of the Day: Mac LC III, Feb. 1993 - The first LC without compromise: 25 MHz 68030 CPU, 32-bit memory, up to 36 MB of RAM.
- List of the Day: G4 'Books an email list for G4 iBooks and PowerBooks.
- September 7 in LEM history: 98: Banner exchanges - 00: Tips from the Mac manager - Getting a Mac job - 01: Apple and the gray market - Repositioning the 'Books - 04: Tray loading iMac a good choice for OS X? - Pismo CPU upgrades - 06: Mac mini value equation - Setting up a Mac Classic II - Putting the Intel transition in perspective - 07: Region free DVD viewing, - My Newton - Solving Mac disk and hardware problems - 2 apps every MacBook should have
Recent Content on Low End Mac- Anticipation: New iPods Now, New Macs Later, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 09.05.
The season of new iPods is at hand, but new Macs may wait until 2009.
- Buy a MacBook Now or Wait?, MacBook touch Patents, Samsung X360 Takes on MBA, and More, The 'Book Review, 09.05.
Also 20 years of portable Macs, data backup and preservation, universal U-Charge battery charger for Mac 'Books, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,699, and more.
- Listen to Just the Music with the V-Moda Vibe Earbuds, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 09.05.
Well built, the noise canceling earbuds will let you hear all the nuances of your music without letting through background noise.
- Source of iPhone 3G Problems, Army Uses iPods as Field Translators, Gains with Business, and More, iNews Review, 09.05.
Also UK bans iPhone ad as 'misleading', iPhone password easy to bypass, GM to offer radios with USB in 2009 models, weather tracking software, and more.
- Macs Gain Ground in August, Consumers Most Likely to Buy Macs, LaCie USB Speakers, and More, Mac News Review, 09.05.
Also migrating Time Machine to a new drive and two new keyboards from Logitech.
- Best iPod touch Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05.
Refurb 8 GB, $199; new, $284; refurb 16 GB, $299; new, $370; refurb 32 GB, $399; new, $453.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05.
Used 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $999; 2.16, $1,125; new, 2.2, $1,450 after rebate; refurb 2.4, $1,699; 2.5, $1,999; 2.6 Santa Rosa, $1,849; rebates on new.
- Best iMac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05.
Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $279; 800 Combo, $300; 1 GHz $390; 17" 800 MHz SD, $439; 1.25 GHz, $449; 20", $569.
- Overclocking a Mac mini Got Me Hooked on Souping Up Macs, Adam Geller, My First Mac, 09.04.
Stories of hot rodding iBooks, G3 iMacs, and PCI Power Macs on the cheap.
- Apple Will Not Abandon Optical Drives, the Mac Drought, Purposeful Mac Acquisition, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.04.
Also Mac OS X 10.5 on a G4-upgraded Blue & White G3 and problems using a flat panel display with a Quadra 700.
- Only Leopard Runs Routine Maintenance Tasks after Startup or Waking from Sleep, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.04.
Mac OS X 10.5 runs routine system maintenance scripts as soon as possible after starting up or waking up your Mac. Earlier versions of OS X do not do this.
- Best Mac mini Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04.
Used 1.25 GHz G4 SD, $549; 1.42 Combo, $409; new 1.83 Core2 Combo, $569 after rebate; 2.0 SD, $769 after rebate.
- Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 09.04.
Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04.
Used 867 MHz Combo, no APX, $490; 1 GHz, $550; SuperDrive, $625; 1.5 GHz w/o APX, $660; w/APX, $675.
- Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04.
Used 1 GHz, $779; 1.33 GHz, $799; 1.5 GHz, $859; 1.67 GHz, $910.
- 11 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 09.03.
The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Radon, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, SeaMonkey, Flock, and Camino tested in Leopard.
- Save Internet Radio, USB and Hard Drives, Hardware Manufacturers vs. Linux, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.03.
Also Mac won't book after cleaning, newer versions of OS X improve wake from sleep, downgrading to OS 8.6, unreadable pages on Low End Mac, and more.
- Another Free POP3 Provider, Recharging a Dead PRAM Battery, Current Kanga Value, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.03.
GMX email now available in US, Panasonic UJ-841S drive won't burn discs, restoring a dead PRAM battery in a Pismo, and thoughts on Kanga value today.
- Best eMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03.
Used 700 MHz Combo, $120; 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $150; 1.42 GHz, $349.
- Best Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03.
Mac OS X 10.5, single user, $99; 5 users, $140; 10.5 Server, 10 users, $395; unlimited, $850.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03.
Refurb 1.6 HD, $1,499; new, $1,690 after rebate; refurb 1.8, $1,699; new, $1,919 a/r; refurb 1.6 SSD, $2,099; new, $2,294 a/r; refurb 1.8, $2,299; new, $2,400 a/r.
- Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03.
Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS.
- More links in our archive.
Apple Archive articles copyright
©2000-07 by Adam Robert Guha.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright
©1997-2008 by Cobweb
Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work
for all. Please report errors to
.
LINKS: We allow and encourage
links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear
within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses
will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them
in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your
message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters
may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect
personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more
details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent
publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise
approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh,
iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV,
and AirPort are registered trademarks of
Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may
be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
|
