Re: [Evolution] Comments on Evolution 1.2

["Arthur S. Alexion" <arthur alexion com>]

On Monday 18 November 2002 06:50 pm, Etienne Tourigny wrote:
> On Mon, 2002-11-18 at 17:58, Arthur S. Alexion wrote:
> >  On Monday 18 November 2002 03:41 pm, Russell Stuart wrote:
> >  > Last week I made the move from Outlook to Evolution 1.2. I
> > thought I > would give some feed back on things I am having
> > difficulty adjusting > to.
> >  
> >  And then Russell goes on to point out some differences in the
> > details between Outlook and Evolution.
> >  
> >  I thought I'd respond from the opposite perspective.  
> >  

Here I explained why I didn't like Outlook.

> >  I didn't like the way that it forced a PIM into my MUA, either.  
> >  I was using another PIM that I liked very much, and was annoyed
> > that I had to install the PIM components of Outlook which I had no
> > intention of using.
>
> Interesting that you don't like a MUA with PIM components - just like
> Evolution!  Is that one of the "similarities of Evolution to Windows
> are its drawbacks" ?

Not when I originally wrote, but the more I think about it, Yes.  One 
of the things that I hated about windows is how windows developers -- 
not just microsoft -- forced their entire package on you, even if you 
just wanted a component.  This reminds me of another thing I didn't 
like about Evolution/Red Carpet.  While the install was easy (I never 
thought RPM was hard), it took over and changed a lot of things without 
my foreknowledge and permission.  It asked me if it could remove two 
conflicting packages -- jpilot and balsa -- and then proceeded to 
remove and replace 109!  That's a windows thing only windows developers 
do it by replacing DLLs.  The result in windows is instability and 
crashes, the result with Red Carpet was that programs that I relied on, 
no longer existed or worked (not much better).

> I sort of agree with you.  If I didn't use the PIM components (which
> I do, along with Palm sync) I would not like them to be included with
> the main application.  But then again once you have an addressbook
> for your email contacts a full contact manager is just the next step
> (although a long one).  But the Calendar and Tasks have no place in a
> MUA-only application.

I like jpilot as my PIM/Palm desktop app.  It is elegantly simple -- it 
just mirrors the handheld ........  and it synchs with the memo and 
allows transparent simple control of backups.  Plus, it is a separate 
app that I can use when I don't need email.  It uses sparse resources, 
so it can run in the background without affecting the performance of 
the foreground app.

It would be nice to be able to use the address book for addressing 
emails, but I don't need street addresses, phone numbers and other 
contact info clogging my MUA.

> Evo developers: are there any plans to modularize the PIM components
> of Evolution?  This way they could be used by other Gnome apps very
> easily (I guess).  And the resulting binaries would be smaller for
> someone who needs just a Mailer.  And it would load quicker. And...
> that's about it.

I would add to that a way to toggle the display of html or text 
versions of mail, ala kmail.  It sure speeds up the deletion of spam, 
not having to wait for it to display its stupid HTML before I delete 
it.  Plus, a lot of my incoming AOL and Outlook created html mail wants 
to display windows fonts that look terrible in X (amazing how many 
people send html encoded plain text.  why?).  It looks much better when 
I display the plain text versions.

>

[more of my boring likes and dislikes omitted here]

> >  
> >  For me the similarities of Evolution to Windows are its drawbacks.
> >  Not necessarily bad, but not for those of us who abandoned Windows
> > to get away from it, not so that we could exchange it for its open
> > source look alike.
>
> Actually most people run away from the problems in Windows itself.
> Outlook is just the most popular mailer.  I don't have a problem with
> using a product that looks like a Microsoft product.  I just want it
> not to behave LIKE a Microsoft product.  And to me Evolution is that.

For me BEHAVING is more than just "misbehaving" (i.e. instability and 
crashes).  It includes the way that it works, even when it works well.  
For example, I don't like the way that Outlook and Evolution substitute 
the addressee's name for his or her email address.  My Palm addressbook 
(which was imported into the Evolution addressbook) contains many 
alternate email addresses, including text enabled cell phones and 
pagers.  By masking the email address that it is using, Evolution makes 
me have to confirm every such address.  (For me, products like Outlook 
are not bad because they are made by Microsoft.  Rather Microsoft is a 
company to be avoided because it makes products like Outlook.)

Another Evolution/Outlook thing that concerns me is whether Evolution 
is prone to the same security problems as Outlook since it mimics so 
many of Outlook's features and functionality.

>  It looks like Outlook, perhaps because the people at Ximian wanted
> the Windows switch easy (because of the eye candy) for corporate
> users.  It also probably responds in a similar manner to Outlook (I
> don't know personally).  

I think this is a good reason to make a product like Evolution, and I 
think the developers have succeeded in that regard.  I just don't think 
it is a product for me.

> I like Evolution because it rocks, is Open
> Source, stable and has may features.

That's why there is chocolate and vanilla!

-- 

_______________________________
Art Alexion
Arthur S. Alexion LLC
mailto:arthur alexion com
http://www.alexion.com