Okay, that is a pretty corny title. But I wanted
to talk about our new mail program. I have had several questions recently
regarding our new email software and how it differed from what we used last
year. You basically have two
options when checking mail: webmail or popmail (Eudora or outlook). Both methods work well, but you must
decide what will work best for you.
Popmail: It works exactly the same as in years
past. You open your email program
to check mail, the program pops into the server and physically brings all of
your mail back to your station.
Remember, once you have checked mail with Eudora, it is no longer on the
server. The
popmail program physically goes to the server, retrieves the mail and stores it
on the local machine.
Webmail: This is a method to check mail from any
internet based computer and browser.
You simply go to: http://willard.k12.mo.us/scripts/webmail.exe
and login using your username and
password. The browser interfaces
with your mailbox on the server and allows you to look at and manipulate
it. But it does not bring the mail
back to the local machine.
Which
one should you use? That depends strictly on your email habits. If you check your mail in your classroom or
office and do not check it in any other location, then you may want to just stick
with Eudora. Eudora still offers
the same advantages that you are accustomed to, such as retrieving, replying,
forwarding, and basically an unlimited amount of storage. Just remember that when Eudora checks
mail, it physically brings it down to the local computer where it was
checked. Webmail works well for
those who want to be able to check mail in multiple locations. I use the webmail feature because I want
to check my mail at home or in any building where I may be working. Using webmail, you can still view,
reply, and forward mail. You may
also delete it from the interface so it will not be there next time. You may setup folders and sort mail just
like Eudora. But since the mail is
actually left on the server, including sent mail and all the various folders,
your email account may start to get very large. I currently have the limit at 50 meg for each
user. So as you start to get
too full, you (and I) will get a warning message. You will need to go in and delete some
of your mail from the folders, or it will eventually not deliver any more
mail.
Can you do both? Yes and no – it may get confusing. Just remember this analogy: Popmail is much like our postal service
(the pop actually stands for post office protocol). When the mail is delivered, it is no
longer in your mail box. But what
if your mailbox had a window that would let you look in and view / act on the
mail, but not actually take it away.
That is what webmail does.
But as you get more and more mail, your mailbox is going to get full, so
you must occasionally clean out all of your folders – even sent mail. So in this scenario, maybe you are using
webmail every day and you have mail from the last month that is always in your
inbox. If you check it one time
with Eudora, what happens to the mail?
Remember it physically brings it down to the local machine, so it will no
longer be on the server the next time you use webmail. That is where it gets kind of confusing
to some people. The best advice is
if you are going to use Eudora some, you are likely better to use it all the
time.
One more advantage: Webmail has some built in features that
are interesting. Four of them come
to mind: Calendar, filtering, todo
lists, blogs.
There is a built in web calendar
tied to your login, so you can view it from any internet based computer. There is a spam filtering feature built
in to the program that will let you filter mail based on the likelihood of it
being spam. You have built in todo
lists in the email features that are always there when you login. You can create up to 5 blogs on
your email account. These blogs are
very easy to use and can easily be used as your teacher / classroom home
page. The big advantage to a blog
over a webpage is they can be updated over the internet or even through an
email. If I were still teaching and
thought of something I wanted students to remember, I could email it to the blog
and it would be posted instantly. A
word of caution: when dealing with students / schools, I would recommend you not allow comments
on your blogs - students can get very creative when they figure out it is
anonymous.
Okay, that is it – everything you
ever wanted to know about POP mail vs webmail - and then some. Let me know if I can help.
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