Mail Mayhem

Hey, ever wondered what changes would take place now that Google owns Pyra Labs? There are a lot of opinions out there -- from the superficial (changing interfaces and so forth) to the downright funny.

Anyway, today I had to change mail servers. There aren't a lot of free POP email providers out there. It's sad to note that after all these long years, Softhome.net has decided to reduce the amount of storage for it's non-paying members. What used to be 15MB of space for 500 messages is now down to 6MB for 150 messages. I sure hope Hotpop doesn't follow suit. Right now, they still give 10MB to non-paying subscribers. I would hate to be stuck with webmail. Don't get me wrong though. There are a few webmail providers out there that provide an outstanding service. But I do belong to a few mailing lists and it's more convenient for me to dowload mail. I typically get 30-50 messages a day on each of them. Think of the time I'll have to spend just checking all that mail. And time online means money. Here in this country, we still pay for dial-up in minutes. We don't have that many flat-rate ISP's over here. Most of them are concentrated around Metro Manila. They don't operate where I live. Too bad.

While we're on the subject of email, I found this Tucows software review in one of my forays into the web. It's a review of something called the Mailwasher. It's software that helps your email client filter out spam, chain letters and warns you of viruses in your mail. The FAQ says it'll work with Netscape Mail, so I guess I'll testdrive this baby over the weekend. When you register though, you'll be asked for a minimum $3 donation. That's cheap, considering most software today costs an arm and a leg. That's why piracy lives on. People want their software cheap. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei", I dare say.