Eudora: Original E-Mailer Stands Tall
Back in the days before Microsoft Outlook, there was Eudora. Designed by an
academic and named for a literary icon—Eudora Welty, for her story “Why
I Live at the P.O.—Eudora has long been a sentimental and technological
favorite, especially among early users of e-mail, academics, and those who appreciate
innovation. Eudora was the original e-mail client, a program that allows someone
to open, read, and manage e-mail.
Outlook and other e-mail client programs have long since emulated Eudora’s
original ingenuity. However, Eudora, now in version 6.0, continues to improve
its feature set. Version 6.0 offers several unique additions that make Eudora
a powerful e-mail manager.
First, it is the only e-mail client currently offering a spam filter. Eudora’s
“SpamWatch” screens incoming mail for obvious and not-so-obvious
signs of spam, shipping the unwanted e-mails to a junk mail box. The mailbox
is preset to empty its contents every thirty days. However, users can adjust
that setting to delete the mail as frequently as they choose. SpamWatch “whitelists”
the user’s address book, according to Bill Ganon, vice president of Eudora
Products Group. That means that e-mail from anyone in the user’s address
book is automatically admitted into the mailbox. The “whitelisting”
feature creates a starting point for junk mail filtering. Users can then opt
in additional senders as the need arises. Of course, SpamWatch’s system
is not foolproof; users have to periodically check the junk mail box and “unjunk”
those messages and addresses that they want to retain. Says Ganon, “With
Eudora, the “unjunking” and adding to the address book can be done
in one simple step.”
Eudora also offers a “Content Concentrator,” which aggregates
the content from an e-mail thread, clustering the heart of the conversation
and moving aside all of the “to” and “from” lines and
redundant text. According to Ganon, the Content Concentrator allows users to
quickly preview their mail without having to scroll through a long chain of
repeated content. If a user wants the full e-mail text back on the screen, he
or she need only to double click and it reappears.
Finally, Eudora 6.0 features something called Contextual Filing. This allows
the user to quickly and accurately file an
e-mail by right clicking on a word within a message. That click sends the e-mail
to a folder or mailbox with that same name. The one-click solution has the potential
to eliminate a lot of time wasted on pull-down menus and multiple commands.
Content Concentrator and Contextual Filing are designed to facilitate better
e-mail management for the busy professional who receives dozens or hundreds
of e-mails a day. SpamWatch makes sense for any e-mail user weary of the bombardment
of unwanted advertising hitting their inbox every day.
Eudora 6.0 also offers something called “Mood Watch.” This feature,
essentially a smart dictionary, alerts users when incoming e-mail includes incendiary
language, or flames. It also warns the user that something he or she is about
to send may include offensive language. It d'esn’t stop you from sending
it or block flaming e-mail; it simply identifies it. Mood Watch uses a rating
system: one to three chili peppers, depending on the e-mail’s “temperature.”
Other features in Eudora 6.0 (some of which were available in earlier versions)
include new toolbar icons, the ability to drag and drop attachments between
the desktop and e-mail, in-line spell checking, color labeling for sorting mail,
and a “personalities” function that lets users create various names
for different types of e-mail they send.
Unlike Outlook, Eudora d'esn’t come prepackaged with operating systems
or other software. You have to download it. Why buy Eudora when you can get
Outlook for free on most PCs? Ganon points to Eudora’s reputation as an
“efficient, hard-working e-mail client” and its “powerful
search and filtering capabilities.”
However, using Eudora d'esn’t mean you necessarily have to pay for it.
Eudora is actually available in three versions: Paid, Sponsored, and Light mode.
Paid mode is feature rich and includes everything Eudora has to offer. It sells
for under $50.00.
Eudora Installer downloads the program in a free version called Sponsored Mode.
Users simply follow instructions during installation to purchase Paid mode.
The sponsored version includes all of the Paid mode features except for Spam
mode. Using it requires permitting an ad window to appear on your screen and
up to three-sponsored toolbar links. Also, in Sponsored mode, users do not have
access to person-to-person technical support.
Light mode is also free, but d'es not include Mood Watch, SpamWatch, or Content
Concentrator. It also lacks several other features, such as live spell checking,
automatic completion, and advanced filtering and search functions.
In 1991, Eudora became a division of Qualcomm. For more information about Eudora,
contact the company at Eudora Division of Qualcomm, San Diego, Calif; (800)
2-EUDORA; www.eudora.com.
