Re: [Evolution] Mulitple IDs

[Robert Moskowitz <rgm htt-consult com>]

At 01:31 PM 12/28/2005, Erik Slagter wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-12-28 at 12:24 -0500, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>
> > Evolution looks slick, but not my solution.  Not a replacement for
> > all that I do with Eudora that I still cannot do with Outlook.
>
> That is very well possible, or you're thinking in fixed solutions; maybe
> evolution can handle your requirements in a different way than you think
> of at the moment.

OK.  Here give it a shot:

I have multiple Identities.  This is VASTLY different from multiple 
email accounts.

My Identities include, but are not limited to:

My day job.
My home consulting job.
My home life.
My standards activities.
A consulting gig where I am to appear as an 'employee' to others 
(this is for contractual reasons).

Now for archival and record keeping reasons, I need (and HAVE!) to 
keep all mail, in, out, and folders totally separate and separately 
archived.  Some of these Identities have a a few hundred nested 
folders or so.  Some of them have multiple email accounts that I will 
receive mail to and have to send from (day job has 3 active email 
addresses and around 4 'historical' addresses).

With Eudora I run multiple copies of Eudora. Each is started with its 
own directory structure:

'<path>/Eudora.exe <data storage>/Identity'

These copies of Eudora are all (or most) running at the same time.  I 
can switch to any of them and 'act' as that Identity as needed.

I have tried a number of times over the years, since Eudora added 
'personalities', to merge all of this into one instance of Eudora and 
very involved filters and deeper folders.

I have not been successful making this conversion for a few reasons:

Rules get too complex and fail to put mail into the proper identity's 
folder structure.
Does not like me sending from one personality to others, including 
one of my other personalities (but I think this is now fixed).
Making it easy to send from the proper personality (if the To: was 
foo bar, don't propose the principal personality of bar foo   Or if 
it comes to a defunct personality of oldfoo bar, know to propose foo bar).
Maintain completely separate archives.  Again for business (and 
personal) reasons.

I have also looked into IMAP.  Now that I am moving to Linux, I could 
run my own IMAP server on my system so I could access my mail offline 
(like at 35000' over the Atlantic).  But IMAP just moves the problem 
(read RFC 1925, rule 7).

One posiblity that Linux makes available is to actually make each 
Identity a separate Linux account.  Then somehow have multiple logins 
for each account active.  I have seen reference to a fast switcher 
(forget the name right now).  xterm has been suggested.  Also SSH 
back to myself to have the other ID in an SSH window!   In these 
cases Linux is supplying the separateness, but then the GUI gets in 
my way (I have tried <cntl-alt> F1 and the gnome-session, but that 
did not work.  yet.

Thunderbird offers 'profiles' as well as 'personalities' within a 
profile.  Of course here too I need multiple Thunderbirds off an 
running.  So I may just be doing yet another indirection here too.

Mail has to be solved first.  Then I will work with OpenOffice on other things.