Back in October when Microsoft introduced Outlook Express 5, I have to admit that I then gave some serious consideration to switching from my tried and true fleet of hacked Eudora Lights to the flashy new email client from Redmond.

OE 5's new interface was extremely attractive; it had cool chimes; it was loaded up with features, bells, and whistles, and had really cool alert chimes. What was not to like?

Well, for starters the obvious: OE is Microsoft software,and while I might be persuaded to put up with typically chronic Microsoft bugginess and instability in a browser or Word processor when only a little time is at stake, entrusting my email files to Microsoft is a whole 'nother thing. Reports of several people having their email archives erased while importing them into OE 5 (even from OE 4.5) did not raise my comfort level. After dithering a bit, I decided that OE 5 was nice, but no thanks.

Part of my reluctance was that I like Eudora Light too much. It is simply the most stable, dependable, forgiving, and intuitive piece of Macintosh software I have ever used -- period. I even run a moderated email list from a copy of Eudora Light, which might seem to some people like doing page layout with SimpleText, but it has worked flawlessly for this purpose for nearly two years.

I have also dragged my various Eudora folders with their mailboxes containing thousands of email messages from one computer to another, and used them with at least half a dozen different Eudora versions ranging from Eudora Light 1.5.1 to Eudora 4.X betas.

Eudora's forward and backward compatibility is nothing short of amazing. I can make a copy of the Eudora Folder for one of my copies of Eudora Light 3.1.3 running on this G3 WallStreet PowerBook with MacOS 8.6, transfer it to my old Mac Plus running Eudora Light 1.5.1 on System 6 or 7, and the message files will open just fine, and vice versa.

Until a couple of weeks ago, my Eudoras had never lost any data. A hard OS 8.6 system crash did recently erase the address list from one of my Eudora Lights, but I had them backed up and lost no message archives, so it was not a catastrophe.

The only real shortcomings for my purposes with Eudora Light are its poky search engine and inability to handle multiple email addresses. My workaround has been a simple Res-Edit hack that takes about 30 seconds per copy and makes it possible for Multiple copies of Eudora Light to address multiple Eudora Folders containing distinct sets of preferences and mailboxes for my 10 (yes) most-used email addresses. My less frequently accessed addresses get checked from time to time by Outlook Express. This is not the most efficient system, but it has worked very well for me, and the biggest annoyance is having to start up 10 copies of Eudora Light after every system restart (yes, I know I could write an AppleScript to do this for me, but I never got around to it).

Still, the concept of running at least some of my email accounts from a single application had a certain appeal, which was one of the reasons I was carefully checking out Outlook Express. Of course, I can hear someone saying: "Why didn't you just buy a copy of Eudora Pro?" Well, I have tried betas of Eudora Pro, and found it an amazingly powerful email program, but it just never seemed to me to be $50 more program *for my needs* than Eudora Light. On the other hand, Outlook Express would give me roughly the same power and high end features as Eudora Pro, and it was free. I continued to procrastinate.

However, that same dynamic must have been occurring to a lot of the other 20 million Eudora users worldwide. Yes, Eudora Pro is arguably the best email client program on the planet, but Outlook Express is pretty good too, and $50 is $50. Which is doubtless why last week Eudora's developer, QUALCOMM Incorporated, announced that it's "new business plan" is to make a sponsor-supported version of the full-featured Eudora 4.3 (ne้ Pro) email client available to users at no charge.

Eudora Pro fans can still pay their $50 and get a sponsor-free version of their favorite email client, but the more parsimonious and ad-tolerant among us can now take advantage of all the program's cool and powerful features for the cost of living with a small (roughly 150-by-150 pixel), floating window that quietly streams advertising messages while we go about our work. A pretty good bargain by my lights. I don't mind advertising anyway, and QUALCOMM has obviously worked hard to strike a balance between visibility and non-intrusiveness.

The new Eudora 4.3 client can also be "downgraded" to something like the old Eudora Light feature set, and eliminate the streamed advertising (although the free Light mode will still include a sponsor image or logo). A real choice that should accommodate nearly everyone's tastes. Choice is good.

Speaking of choice, on the Mac side of the equation, QUALCOMM was doubtless also anticipating the arrival of Apple's bundled e-mail program, MailViewer, which is reportedly to be included in Mac OS X. Personally, I think that including productivity software in an operating system is a bad idea for the software industry, and I would suggest that Apple reconsider, for all the good that will do. Right now, Mac-users have a delightful diversity of email client software to choose from, including Eudora, OE5, Bare Bones' MailSmith, CTM's PowerMail, Green, Netscape's Messenger, Musashi, CE Software's QuickMail Pro. Several of these are already struggling under the free OE 5 onslaught, and Apple's MailViewer will surely administer the coup de grace to some of them if they manage to even survive that long. And the diminished choice will not be good for consumers.

Whether streamed advertising is the way of the future is a good question. If everybody got into the act, the pool of potential advertisers might get stretched pretty thin. However, with its vast installed base of over 20 million mostly enthusiastic Eudora users, QUALCOMM ought to be a pretty strong draw for advertisers, provided enough Eudora Light users can be persuaded to upgrade to the sponsor-supported version.

Interestingly, The Register reported last week that in the PC orbit, installing version 5.01 of Internet Explorer upgrades Outlook Express automatically, so that if you use Outlook to access a Hotmail account an advertising banner appears at the bottom of the screen.

The shipping version of the new Eudora 4.3 email client will be available sometime in Q1, 2000, but a free preview beta release of the new software is available now at

http://www.eudora.com limited to the first 250,000 users.

I downloaded my copy of the beta release the first day, and have thus far transferred five of my email accounts to the new client. While the mailbox import function (see Appendix 1 below) would have done it for me, I like manual control of such things, and I renamed and dragged the Inbox and Outbox mailbox files from the respective Eudora Folders I had been using for these accounts into the Mail Folder inside the fresh, new, Eudora Folder created when I launched the Eudora 4.3 beta (none of my Res-Edit hacked Eudora Light folders are named "Eudora Folder," so everything happily coexists.

Then I used Eudora 4.3's super simple and intuitive Make Filter feature to create filters that would automatically direct incoming messages to the appropriate mailboxes, which now appear in the program's mailbox menu. Making individual "personality" settings and signature for the respective accounts was a snap using Eudora's familiar "Settings" dialog and the "Personalities" window. I can check incoming mail in any account individually using the Personalities window, or just hit "Command M" and the whole works get checked in order.

I really like Eudora 4.3's on the fly spellchecker (a feature OE 5 doesn't offer unless you have Word '98 installed, which I don't.

In short, while I still in many respects prefer the Zen-like simplicity and slickness of Eudora Light 3.1.3 and earlier versions, I think I'm getting hooked on the "heavy" Eudora. I shall proceed gradually, and will continue to access my most heavily trafficked email accounts as well as operate the email list from Eudora Light for a while yet until I'm sure. (I'm temperamentally conservative by nature).

Happily, even if I ever do decide that I would rather revert to my old system of multiple Eudora Lights, it would just be a matter of dragging the mailboxes back to their respective folders, reverting to their original names, and the former regime would be restored with little fuss or bother.

For now, though, I'm content. The beta release seems stable enough, and the little advertising floater is sort of interesting to have there streaming quiet little ads at me. I don't find it intrusive, and some of the content is even interesting.

I'm giving Eudora 4.3 a full five stars.

The preview beta version of the new Eudora is available for download now at http://www.eudora.com. QUALCOMM will limit the preview to the first 250,000 active users. The commercial version is scheduled for release in North America in the first quarter of 2000. QUALCOMM's republishing partner in Japan, KUNI Research, is expected to release the Japanese version by the end of the first quarter 2000. QUALCOMM plans to release other foreign language versions of the new Eudora for Europe and Latin America by the end of 2000.

Appendix I
Eudora 4.3 Features In Detail.

Appendix II
QUALCOMM's New Advertising Business Plan For Eudora .

Appendix III
Eudora Resources and Bouquets For Eudora .

Charles W. Moore

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February 09, 2012