4144 The Odysseus email client public beta has jumped two version numbers since our last report and is now at version 1.0b9. Eagerly-anticipated (at least by Eudora fans) Odysseus from Infinity Data Systems is designed to be a real replacement for the classic Eudora application we know and love. This build continues to improve on existing features, with numerous stability improvements and more

New in Odysseus 1.0 Beta9 :

• Improved Mailbox Format (As of Beta 7)
- New format allows for faster operation and smaller mailbox sizes

• Checking Email
- Fixed compatibility issue with Maillennium POP3 servers (AT&T)

• Encoding
- Fixed an issue where International languages did not display properly on Windows
- Odysseus now encodes outgoing headers to UTF-8 for International compatibility

• Importing
- Faster import of Eudora mailboxes
- Odysseus now does a better job preserving the encoding of imported messages

• Misc
- Numerous stability improvements


New in Version 1.0b8:

• Improved Mailbox Format
- New format allows for faster operation and smaller mailbox sizes

• Sending Email
- Fixed Authentication Error when sending via some servers

• Checking Email
- Fixed an issue that could result in blank emails being downloaded

• Encoding
- Fixed an issue where International languages did not display properly on Windows
- Odysseus now encodes outgoing headers to UTF-8 for International compatibility

• Interface
- Odysseus remembers selection point when deleting messages
- If windows were displayed on a second display during last session, Odysseus will move them to the main display if the secondary is disconnected

• Search
- Now possible to search specific email parts (Anywhere, Headers, Body, Attachment)
- Fixed accuracy issues when doing a multi-criteria search

What’s Next?

IMAP, Printing, Manual Filtering, Windows Interface issues, as well as general polish and bug fixes, are all areas where the developers will be focusing on for Beta 10.

For me, the make-or-break feature that's still missing is the ability to check individual email accounts separately. I have some 25 accounts configured in Eudora 6.2.4, and it's simply impractical to do mass checks, especially over my bog-slow dialup connection, so what about it, Odysseus folks? When are individual account checks coming?

The other lingering problem is that Odysseus still can't sent mail through my ISP's (Sympatico Canada) SMTP server. This is partly a Sympatico problem, and it afflicts Eudora as well.

The progress bar enhancements have been advanced even more than with version b7, and are now close to being comparable with Eudora's excellent Tasks window, But I haven't found any way in the Odysseus Preferences to make message windows display the data strings at the top.

Classic Eudora, which dates back in development continuity almost to the dawn of the public Internet, is one of the most refined pieces of software I've ever used. It's also as comfortable as a favorite pair of slippers after all those years of familiarity. In my estimation, it's close to perfection as an email client has ever been, so Odysseus has very big boots to fill. It has a way to go yet, but with "official" Eudora now a clone of mediocre Mozilla Thunderbird, it's encouraging that Infinity Data Systems is on the way to developing what promises to be a worthy Eudora successor.

Odysseus is commercial software (as Qualcomm's Eudora was) and not open source, and will sell for $39.95, about the same price point as classic Eudora. The program is being developed with support for Mac OS X and Windows, with Linux compatibility being looked at for the future. Version upgrade prices, anticipated roughly annually, are projected to be$19.95, and if a full version number upgrade occurs in under a year's time, it will be free for users of the previous version.

For more information, go to:
http://www.infinitydatasystems.com/odysseus/index.html


Charles W. Moore

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