MetaTool, the only MIME system for the Amiga that is actually usable, has now been expanded into a fully operational mail system. It supports multiple mail folders and works in a very user-friendly, graphics-oriented way.
Composing a message works as before, allowing you to drag and drop the component parts of your E-mail message into the MetaTool compose window. Any form of data you can think of is supported, from plain text and Final Writer documents through JPEGs and GIFs to IFF sample files.
As I've said the main difference between this and the previous version of MetaTool is that incoming mail is handled too. Your mail box is displayed as a scrollable list and when you click on a message it is automatically separated into its component parts.
Generally, there will only be two parts per message: the header and the body. It's nice to have the option not to have to bother reading the header information. It's when an incoming message has been composed using MIME that the fun starts. MetaTool competently handles the routing of each partial type (using a standard MIME mailcap file) to the appropriate display tool.
Text is sent to a viewer like PPMore, whilst the default tool for graphics and sound files is Multiview. As with all proper MIME systems, you can edit the mailcap file to suit your own needs, using faster graphics display programs, or routing text into an editor or word processor.
All in all, MetaTool marks a step forward in the field of Amiga mail systems. True, there are a few minor annoyances (the lack of a "forward" facility is one) but this is an extremely promising first release. As usual MetaTool is available from Aminet. Bear in mind, though, that you'll need MUI to get MetaTool up and running. This shouldn't be a problem since if you are running AMosaic you'll already have had to brave the trepidations of the Magic User Interface.
 MetaTool presents a very user-friendly interface to your mail box, using the dreaded MUI. |
 Composing MIME messages is extremely simple - just drag and drop each part of the message. |
