I want you all to know that I’m fundamentally an optimistic person. In addition, I like to think I am loyal, particularly to products that get the job done without a lot of fussing. I dislike reading about lots of workarounds to make something function correctly, because it just doesn’t sit well with me. If a product is designed properly, the initial setup ought to be more than sufficient for most of you, and the special configuration process ought to be the exception.

It all began recently when I switched to IMAP for email, which stores your messages on a central server, thus making it easier to synchronize them regardless of which computer or email client you use. While most applications seem to handle the standard POP accounts pretty well, for some reason IMAP creates complications.

In recent weeks, I’ve gone back and forth in picking my favorite email client, and it may seem that I just can’t make up my mind. But hear me out. You see, it’s really not my fault (please don’t laugh)!

Mail: For the longest time, I used Apple’s Mac OS X Mail to handle everything, but, in its efforts to simplify the difficult, things get somewhat complicated. By default, Mail puts all your accounts into a single Inbox. This may seem to make sense, unless you have accounts that you prefer to keep separate.

Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.

This article was posted on Monday, January 1st, 2007 at 5:25 PM and is filed under News and tagged with: Apple, Central Server, Default Mail, Email, Inbox, Initial Setup, Job, Laugh, Longest Time, Mac Os X, Mac Os X Mail, Newsletter, Night Owl, Optimistic Person, Os X, Owl.