[Techtalk] Way to not organise a mail server

[Maria McKinley]

Anne Wainwright wrote:
> 
> I collect email from my ISP. I pop the mail down from my ISP to my
server with mpop. Other machines on my business network get the email
from my server.
> 
> I can't send email out except via the smtp server provided by local
telekoms adsl monopoly. I don't think people can send direct to me
either, ports blocked by the monopoly, whatever. In any case I switch it
all off when I go home. Postfix delivers to the monopoly smtp server.
> 
> Is that a server I am running or not? One of my good points is a real
> 
proficiency at doing things the complicated way, so feel free to comment.
> 
> bestest Anne
> 

I would say I'm not sure of what the advantage of having a mail server 
would be in this case unless you are using IMAP. By using IMAP you keep 
all mail and folders on the server (you can still download copies if you 
want). This way you can look at your mail from any mail client. Recently 
I have been helping a friend move from one computer and email client to 
another one, and it is a big pain, because she is using pop. This means 
all of the folders and old emails were being stored locally on that 
computer, so we had to figure out how to export them. It was definitely 
a pain. It seems like if you use pop, then you are just adding an extra 
layer of mail processing that I don't think does anything beneficial for 
you, but maybe someone with more experience with pop can correct me.

Hmm, just re-read your mail, and maybe I misunderstood. do you mean that 
you pop down all mail for your domain in one lump, and they won't 
distribute it for you, all of it can just go to one person for some 
reason? In that case, I can see having to run a mail server, regardless 
of pop or imap.

cheers,
maria