More than a message in a bottle
Cons
Remote WinMail is claimed by its British authors to be the world’s most flexible and intuitive remote electronic mail software. The package does have its strong points, especially for users that have to connect to many different types of mail systems. However, as an Internet mail package, it leaves quite a bit to be desired.
The technical requirement for installing Remote WinMail are unlikely to challenge any modern notebook PC: it works with any of the current flavours of Windows or OS/2 and needs only a couple of megabytes of disk to sit on.
Remote WinMail is specifically designed for portable communications requirements. It can connect to any Novell MHS system, CompuServe or IBM Mail system through which you can reach anyone on the Internet. But Remote WinMail doesn’t itself provide any Internet mail connectivity or the other trappings of a truly global, standards based mail package such as MIME, POP or SMTP compatibility. The otherwise comprehensive docs are virtually innocent of any mention of the world’s largest email system, the Internet (no index entry and only a scant half page under CompuServe in a minor appendix)!
I found that installing Remote WinMail was quite an agonizing experience. The list of modems, while not short, did not have two of the three modems that I traditionally use in my office. Then once I did get the modem set up correct, Remote WinMail inexplicably hung on two out of the three PCs that I tried it on, it was especially vile on my stalwart Intel Pentium box.
However, once you get it going, usability and configurability are Remote WinMail’s strong points. It has garnered a lot of attention from the press for the intuitive nature of its interface and the comprehensive list of file viewers.
Remote WinMail 1.5 is now available as part of a bundle with Outside In, a generic file viewer. Remote WinMail users will be able to read, print, copy and otherwise launch e-mail attachments whether or not they have the application that created them. This is a definite plus for users on the road that seemed to have left their copy of Excel on their other hard disk. Because you aren’t necessarily launching Windows apps just to take a peek, Finansa says the bundle reduces the time taken to process e-mail by up to half. A bit of an exaggeration, I think.
While email can be an incredibly effective business tool, it can also be a drudge. A few days offline and, bang, 200 messages await you. Remote WinMail alleviates this problem with sophisticated filtering. It sends messages to specified folders according to the message priority, the person who sent it or specific trigger words in the subject line. Alas, with sophistication you get complication. Unless you fiddle about with your Remote WinMail package a lot, the filtering process requires cookbooking it -- and that makes it a bit of a drag to always be packing the manual for your away days ‘just in case’.
Remote WinMail doesn’t take good advantage of Windows trickery like DDE or OLE or MAPI so its limited in its ability to fit closely with other applications. Some macro examples are included that allow Remote WinMail to Word, Excel and Ami Pro, though.
Another configuration of Remote WinMail is Remote WinMail for IBM Information Exchange is targeted directly at users of mobile phones for true email-on-the-go.
The package is used via a modem linked to a Cellnet phone to leave and retrieve messages on the IBM Information Network. IBM says this is cheaper than standard telephone calls because it’s billed in six second -- as opposed to -- one minute units. Perhaps if they saw my cellphone bills they would think otherwise...
Contact Finansa 071 405 4054
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