ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca software/ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca-software-.zip/ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca-software-/mac_network/Mailstrom_1.05t3.bin/Mailstrom 1.05t3.rsrc/TEXT_6_Mailstrom & IMAP.txt

Text File | 1994-03-24 | 2KB | 9 lines

THESE HELP WINDOWS ARE VERY ROUGH - FORGIVE ME.

Mailstrom and the IMAP Mail Model

Unlike many other Macintosh mail programs, Mailstrom allows you to read electronic mail that may come from any number of different kinds of machinesΓÇöwhether from the local computing environment, across the United States or even the world. Mailstrom does not care whether your mail was created on a SunΓäó, a NeXTΓäó, another MacintoshΓäó; or another machine. This is because most mail programs used to send mail across networks use the same protocol .i.SMTP ;(Small Mail Transfer Protocol).
Mailstrom also uses another protocol, called the Interactive Mail Access Protocol (.i.IMAP;). This protocol is a client/server model of mail, whereby incoming mail is first sent to a central machine called the .i.server;, where it is distributed to the appropriate mailboxes. Your mail always resides on the server. A mail .i.client ;machine (such as your Macintosh) can access the mail on the server using a mail client program (such as Mailstrom) typically over a local area network. Mailstrom is therefore known as an IMAP mail client program or mail client for short.
The server may be a machine running the UNIX operating system: however, when you use Mailstrom this will be almost completely transparent: you donΓÇÖt have to know UNIX commands to read your mail .
Because your mail resides on a server, it can be read with other mail applications as well. There are mail clients on SPARCstationsΓäó, NeXTs, ExplorersΓäó, etc. so you can read the same mail on these machines as you do on your Macintosh with Mailstrom. Furthermore, operations you perform on your mail in Mailstrom may be reflected in other mail applications. For instance, if you delete messages using ΓÇ£Columbia mm,ΓÇ¥ a popular UNIX mail application, these messages will not be available for later perusal in Mailstrom; the messages are deleted at the server. Currently, you cannot perform any write operations (operations that modify a message or a mailbox) on your mail from more than one application at the same time.
The IMAP client/server model allows IMAP client programs to take full advantage of the client machine and to follow its user interface standards. Thus Mailstrom ΓÇ£looks and feelsΓÇ¥ like a Macintosh application, whereas the NeXT client program ΓÇ£looks and feelsΓÇ¥ like a NeXT program. For this reason, it should be relatively simple for a user who is acquainted with the Macintosh user interface to learn Mailstrom.