On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 12:22 PM, Steve Fabian <> wrote:
> From: DMcCunney
> | Fair enough. I run in 1280x1024 resolution, find the default header
> | size readable, and left text size at the default Medium as well. (But
> | in practice, I don't use OE at all. I just invoked it here to check
> | what you were unhappy about.)
>
> My eyesight is declining, text size default is largest. I rarely use 1280x1024, my normal is 1024x768. That's where the header size is readable in the control panel, but not when I maximize an individual message. When respondig, the header is displayed in a larger font...
I used to run in 1600x1200 before the old monitor died. 1280x1024 is
the best the current one will do.
> | I use GMail as my primary account, and read it in Firefox. I prefer
> | the web interface, and have no need for a local copy of 99.9% of the
> | mail I get. It's welcome to live on Google's servers. It's easy
> | enough to grab a copy if I need something.
>
> I prefer my local copy, searching through them is much more powerful, and I don't need connectivity.
My GMail store is a database, searchable via standard Google search
functions. Instead of folders, GMail uses labels and filters. To
sort things and classify them, I use filters that apply labels, and
optionally prevent things from appearing in my Inbox. Clicking on the
label list to the left of the GMail Inbox screen displays all messages
with that label applied. It acts like a folder. The advantage is
that you can apply more than one label to a message, and thus have the
same message appear in more than one "folder". Labels are arbitrary
index keys into the GMail database. I've found search to be more
powerful this way than it was when I used Outlook and downloaded via
POP.
Connectivity isn't a concern here because I have an always on
broadband connection.
> I do NOT want my private mail to be on an unprotected public server. Just recently Borders went out of business, and their whole database was purchased by Barnes&Noble. I don't know what privacy rules the bankruptcy court imposed on the buyer, but I don't want to rely on such fickle future. Besides, it is much easier to switch email servers if all your critical data is on your own system. The diskspace used is trivial.
> ...
I wouldn't call GMail's servers "public and unprotected." Google
offers their services to businesses as well as individuals, and takes
security *very* seriously indeed.
Under what circumstances might someone be able to read my mail?
1) They hack my account. That's unlikely, as I use a non-trivial
email password, and follow all of Google's security guidelines.
2) They hack Google's servers. That's even more unlikely. Like I
said, Google takes security seriously. I've never heard of a major
exploit being pulled off against them.
3) They work for Google and are GMail admins. Well, I suppose they
*could* read my mail, but why would they *bother*? They have millions
of users and terabytes of mail. The folks at Google have far better
things to do with their time than snoop in *my* mail, and no reason to
so so in any case.
4) They're police and want to monitor my communications. The response
of Google, and any other legitimate ISP will be "Show us your court
order." And the cops have even less reason to look at my mail than
the mail admins. I'm not doing anything they'd take a professional
interest in.
(Note that all of the above apply to *any* ISP email, and are not
specific to Google. Back when I got POP mail from my ISP, the ISP
folks could have viewed it while it was on their servers.)
And ultimately, I don't*care*. I've never seen email as all that
secure, so as a rule I don't say stuff in email I'd have heartburn
about becoming public. Unless you're me, 99.9% of my email will be
mystifying or terminally boring. Read all you want, but don't say I
didn't warn you...
For the vanishing rare occasions where I *am* concerned about message
security, well, that's what public key encryption is for.
My allocated GMail mail store is 7.6GB and counting, of which I've
used about half. I consider that non-trivial.
I grant you, it would be hard to switch email providers, but I have no
current reason to want to, and don't anticipate having one.
Re the Borders acquisition, B&N bought Borders customer lists, but
AFAIK did *not* get CC numbers as part of the deal. There have been
various complaints that B&N privacy policy wasn't as stringent as
Borders. I had a Borders account and a B&N account, and see the whole
thing as a tempest in a teapot. I was *not* troubled by the sale, and
if I were B&N, I'd have bought the lists too.
> | GMail has good filtering, and I have things like the JPSoft forms
> | sorted automatically.
>
> My new phone requires a gmail account to use some of its features. I don't have one, my 14-year old daughter's is used instead...
A Google account is a worthwhile thing to have. It's single-signon.
The account I use for GMail is also used for Google Docs, Google
Sites, Google Groups, Google Plus, and any other service Google
offers.
> | I use TBird as a newsreader. I saw the issue with TB getting confused
> | about what was already read. Each newsserver has an RC file where
> | that information is stored, and TB wasn't correctly updating the RC
> | file.
> |
> | I currently run TBird 8 beta and haven't seen the problem in a while.
>
> I'll have to try it again...
It's worth a look. Thunderbird is now using the same rapid release
model as other Mozilla apps, so expect a new majo0r version every
three months.
______
Dennis