I hadn't planned to do back to back e-mail client reviews, but events overtook me, with Eudora 5.0 and SweetMail 1.93 release the same week. I wrote about newcomer SweetMail last week, so this week is Eudora's turn.

This software is of particular interest to me, as Eudora has been my favorite email client since Eudora Light version 1.5, and I've used Eudora on machines ranging from my old Mac Plus to my current G3 Series PowerBook.

My strongest impression when I first started up Eudora 5.0 was that if it weren't for the new splash screen (much more attractive, IMHO, in a new blue color scheme than Eudora 4.3's uninspiring shade of brown), there was really very little to indicate that I wasn't still using Eudora 4.3. The windows look the same; the menus look the same; even the streamed ads look the same.

Minor distinctions include the graphics in the you've got/not got mail dialog boxes, which have been changed to a somewhat incongruous three pigs for the former, and a white rabbit with fading ears emerging from a top hat for the latter.

Being an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" sort of person, I am not distressed in the slightest by Qualcomm's lack of tinkering with Eudora's time-honored and extremely functional interface; just a bit surprised that a full version number upgrade doesn't make a more dramatic visual statement, especially given the not infrequently heard criticism (not from me) that Eudora's interface is looking antiquated these days compared to glitzier competitors like Outlook Express. Personally, I prefer Eudora's functional conservatism.

Under the hood, there are some changes and new features, including enhanced mail import, automatic file sharing and syncing capabilities, a flame monitor, email statistics tracking, a better address book, and support for use with Eudora Internet Suite (EIS) 2.0 for Palm OS-based handhelds, which will be released later this month. In greater detail:

• Import from Outlook Express. You may now import mail information and settings from Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0.

• Eudora Sharing Protocol (ESP). ESP is a new Eudora plug-in that allows you to share documents and discussion among of a group of Eudora users without the use of a shared server

• MoodWatch. A new Eudora feature that can monitor offensive text in both incoming and outgoing messages. You can display the new MoodWatch options dialog to set MoodWatch settings.

• Statistics. You can now display and print statistics on your Eudora usage.

• New Script menu. A new Script menu appears on the menu bar if you move your AppleScript folder to the Eudora Applications folder or to the Eudora Stuff folder. All scripts in your folder and those included with Eudora appear on the menu.

• New Address Book. The Eudora address book has been improved for easier use and maintenance.

• MoodWatch

While all of these features add value to Eudora and will be variously useful to those who need or want to use them, arguably the least useful, but the most interesting from a novelty point of view is MoodWatch.

MoodWatch is intended to warn users about flame content in outgoing and incoming emails. Exclusive to Eudora 5.0 email, MoodWatch warns users if they are writing a flame or if they are being flamed (as if that were not obvious in either case). The feature scans outgoing and incoming email messages for potentially offensive language and graphically flags the level of "heat" with one, two or three chili peppers. MoodWatch can be turned off if the user chooses. The feature will also warn users if they click "send" on a potentially offensive message to give them a chance to reconsider. Users can set one of three different degrees of sensitivity that will trigger these warning messages or turn the warnings off altogether while still using the MoodWatch feature to give chili ratings to incoming and outgoing emails.

MoodWatch, based on rhetorical theories developed by David Kaufer, chairman of the English department of Carnegie Mellon University, employs a very fast and efficient algorithm to identify words and phrases that might be offensive. As such, it's efficient at flagging potentially offensive messages, but it is up to the user to decide if a message "deserves the chilies."

More information on the MoodWatch feature of Eudora 5.0 email software can be found at: http://www.eudora.com/email/features/moodwatch.html

MoodWatch is fun to experiment with, and I spent some time typing various words into a new message document to see just what words the program would flag. A sampling of words that conjured up three chili peppers were the expression commonly abbreviated "SOB," the quintessential f-word, "asshole" (which you Doris spell checker did not recognize what mood watcher did), and even idiot, as well as various potty-language terms.

On the other hand, pig face, jerk, and nitwit sailed through without raising a single chili pepper, as did turkey and damn.

Vagina and penis, separately, raised, if you will pardon the expression, no peppers, but when they appeared together two peppers appeared. A couple of scatological slang references to these anatomical parts were both flagged with three peppers, even though the male-related word s perfectly polite usage in reference to a male fowl, or to the act of preparing a firearm for discharge.

I also screened the archived messages I have on file in Eudora, and discovered that a few of my correspondents are prone to use somewhat salty language, although nothing I would deem abusive. The weirdest discovery was that a message entirely in Norwegian was flagged with three chili peppers. No, I have no idea what it said.

While entertaining to play with, MoodWatch is a good example of the basic uselessness of censorware. However, it is unobtrusive, and good for a few smiles at least.

The other new features of Eudora 5.0 email software include:

• Eudora Sharing Protocol

The new Eudora Sharing Protocol (ESP), a patent-pending feature, saves time and simplifies communications with family, friends and co-workers by automatically sharing and syncing files without the need for a central server or IT support. Any file that can be sent as an attachment (pictures, music, text and graphics documents, etc.) can be managed automatically by Eudora through the ESP feature purely on a peer-to-peer basis.

To take advantage of ESP, just set up a share group through the ESP set-up wizard. Simple steps include designating a folder on the hard drive for saving files for the share group, designating a mailbox for emails for that share group and designating the members of the group by entering their email addresses. ESP automatically invites the other members who, upon acceptance of the invitation, go through the simple set up. Members of the group simply save a file in that group's folder on their hard drive and ESP automatically updates the file in the mirror folder on the other members' hard drives.

ESP offers a wide variety of notification and file distribution options that give users control of when and how they send and receive files, including a fully automatic setting that makes staying up-to-date and in sync with the share group as simple as saving or opening a file on the hard drive. Unlike other peer-to-peer file sharing systems, shared files in ESP are only available to invited members and not the general public.

ESP share groups are easy to set up on an ad hoc basis, and give users the immediate ability to collaborate or simply stay up-to-date with shared files without paying for third-party services or going through a complicated setup process with an IT department.

More information on the ESP feature of Eudora 5.0 email software can be found at: http://www.eudora.com/email/features/esp.html

• Email Usage Statistics

Not a make or break function, but interesting to have, is the email usage stats feature of Eudora 5.0, which offers users private, personal and interesting insight into their day-to-day email activity. By analyzing their daily, weekly or even yearly email usage patterns, users can better understand how to manage their email. With a couple of mouse clicks, users can easily view graphs of their usage statistics.

• Mail Import

Eudora 5.0's feature enhancements include its new ability to import accounts and mailboxes from Microsoft Outlook 98/2000 and Outlook Express 4.0/5.0 and Claris Emailer 2.0; an improved address book; and a script menu that allows users to execute their favorite AppleScripts.

• Eudora Internet Suite

Eudora Internet Suite 2.0 software for handheld devices based on the Palm Computing platform will be available later this month as a free download at: http://www.eudora.com. Free EIS includes Eudora email, EudoraWeb browser and an email conduit (Windows only), which enable email syncing with desktop Eudora email software. Users who want to sync their EIS with other common Windows desktop email clients can purchase an unlimited sync code for $29.95 (U.S.). More information on EIS 2.0, press release also issued today, can be found at: http://www.eudora.com/internetsuite.

As with Eudora 4.3, Eudora 5.0 email software is available as a free download at: http://www.eudora.com. The software can operate in any of three user-selectable modes: Sponsored mode, which gives users full-featured Eudora for free and displays advertising in a small window in the user interface; Paid mode, full-featured Eudora without advertising ($39.95 MSRP after a $10 mail-in rebate; rebate United States/Canada only); and Light mode, which has fewer features, does not display ads and is free. Eudora 5.0 in Paid mode will be available for retail purchase in October. QUALCOMM also is offering a special upgrade price of $29.95 to customers who purchased Eudora Pro 4.0-4.2.

Mac system requirements:
• PowerPC
• Mac OS 8.1 or later
• Optional microphone for use with Qualcomm's PureVoice technology.

Eudora's Sponsored mode is designed to accommodate advertising without compromising the user experience. Ads appear one at a time in a window outside the main message composition and reading area. Qualcomm has implemented strict guidelines to ensure that the advertising is not unnecessarily distracting. No ads with sound or animation are allowed.

Personally, I find the little 144 x 144 pixel ads so inoffensive that I can't imagine why anyone would choose the partly disabled Light mode over the ad-sponsored one. I kind of like the little ad window, with its colorful, changing messages.

On installation, Eudora defaults to the Sponsored mode, however the user always has the option of switching to the Paid or Light mode.

Research indicates that Eudora users constitute one of the largest online communities in the world, representing more than 20 million users worldwide, and spend significant amounts of time in email every day (42 percent spend 30-60 minutes/day, 25 percent spend 1-2 hours/day, 15 percent spend 2+ hours/day). Eudora users are also brand loyal; 73 percent have never switched email brands.

I still prefer the way Eudora handles and accesses archived messages better, in my estimation, than any other e-mail application I've tried, and it is certainly superior to Outlook Express in this area. To my taste, Eudora is still the best heavy-duty, full-featured, e-mail client available for the Mac platform , and its modest system demands and small size are icing on the cake. Eudora 5.0 only requires a 2,500k RAM partition, and 2.8 MB of hard drive space for the application (13.1 MB for the whole folder). That compares with a 7168k RAM partition, and 6.5 MB of hard drive space for the application (15.1 MB for the whole folder -- not counting the shared libraries OE installs in the System Folder) for Outlook Express 5.0.

One of the things I like best about Eudora is its robustness and flexibility. The old Eudora Light 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.

To work around Eudora Light's inability to handle multiple email accounts, I've used a simple Res-Edit hack that takes about 30 seconds to do and makes it possible for multiple copies of Eudora Light to address multiple Eudora Folders containing distinct sets of preferences and mailboxes for various email accounts. This is not the most efficient system, but it worked very well for me for several years, and I still use Eudora Light 3.1.3 for my highest trafffic email accounts because of its speed. slickness, and simplicity. The biggest annoyance is having to start up multiple copies of Eudora Light after every system restart. However, I have now transferred most of my email accounts to Eudora 4.3/5/0.

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 4.3.

Eudora's forward and backward compatibility is nothing short of amazing. I can make a copy of the Eudora Folder in Eudora Light 3.1.3 running on this G3 WallStreet PowerBook with MacOS 9, 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. Indeed, when I transferred some of my email accounts into Eudora 4.3 from Eudora Light last winter, I just renamed the In and Out mailbox documents from the respective Eudora folders and dragged them into the new Eudora 4.3 folder. They open just fine.

Eudora 5.0 allows you to check all your email accounts at once, or selectively, and the operation of message windows, setting preferences, and so on will be comfortably familiar to users upgrading from Eudora Light.

In its Sponsored and Paid modes, Eudora offers powerful email management tools that allow users to:
• Manage messages and eliminate unwanted email easily through extensive filtering;
• Find messages quickly with the powerful search function;
• Address emails quickly and easily with automatic name completion;
• Manage multiple email accounts easily and discretely within the single program;
• Work uninterrupted by sending and receiving email in the background;
• Enjoy the advantages of a word processor with automatic spell checking and the ability to choose numerous font, formatting and color settings;
• Engage in more complete communications through easy handling of attachments and the ability to view html graphics right in the body of a message.

Returning Features for Eudora Email 5.0 for Macintosh include:

•Recipient History List -- A history list of all recipients of your messages now resides in your address book, located in your nickname list. The history file consists of names and email addresses of people you have previously sent, forwarded, or replied to messages within Eudora. When you send messages to these people again, their email names and addresses are included in the automatic nickname completion list.
• Link History. Link history tracks and links Internet web sites and ads you clicked in Eudora.
• SMTP Authentication. Eudora can authenticate an SMTP server (sending mail) not only with CRAM-MD5, but also with LOGIN and PLAIN authentication methods.
• HTML only. HTML is now the only text enriched function in Eudora. The old text enriched function has been removed from Eudora because it has become an outdated standard and cannot be used by several newer email software applications.
• Auto-completion allows you to enter a portion of a name in the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: fields, and Eudora automatically completes the name for you. Just start typing and Eudora attempts to complete the name. If multiple recipients match the text you've entered, press Command + , (comma) to display a list of names from both your history file and address book. Select the correct name, and the name and email address appear in the field.
• An on-the-fly spell checker that highlights misspelled words during message composition or when you paste text in.
• Powerful filtering and mailbox filing capabilities
• Background send and receive while you read or compose messages
• Message color coding and styling to highlight important information
• The ability to view graphics right inside a message
• Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) support

Not unexpected in .0 version, I've encountered a few unsquashed bugs in Eudora 5.0. I have had it unexpectedly quit during startup a few times, although it has always succeeded on the second try. This symptom may be related to those hacked copies of Eudora Light 3.1.3 still on my hard drive. Even though the latter all work with separate, uniquely named, Eudora folders, there appears to be some minor conflicts between them and Eudora 5.0 that did not manifest in Eudora 4.3, the start up hang probably being one of them. If I start up Eudora 5.0 before the 3.1.3 copies, I get warning dialogues with the latter indicating that certain functions are already in use by another application. Aside from that, all of the applications seem to function normally, and I have had no stability problems after startup .

In summary, Eudora 5.0 is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary upgrade, but all of the new features are solidly useful improvements, or at least interesting, and I would rate it as a very worthwhile download, although not a must have if you're already using Eudora 4.3, and are not especially smitten with any of the new features.

If you haven't tried Eudora, it won't cost you anything more than the download time to check it out.

Eudora 5.0 can be downloaded at: http://www.eudora.com

Charles W. Moore

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