InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
June 21, 1999
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We had intended to include Netscape's Messaging Server 4.0 in this review. However, Netscape said a major upgrade would be available before this review was published, and chose not to participate.
Eudora WorldMail
Eudora WorldMail Server 2.0, from Qualcomm, is a basic E-mail package that supports POP3, APOP, and IMAP4 client access but does not offer advanced features such as Web access to E-mail, virus checking, or spam filters. What it does offer is easy setup and administration, and nice touches such as mailing lists and user access via the Web to personal configuration information.
WorldMail was easy to set up from the distribution CD-ROM. The process would be straightforward for anyone with experience with E-mail software, but it would likely be confusing to a first-time E-mail administrator. Wizards would have made the process simpler.
The software includes useful documentation, including a 300-page printed manual and an even more extensive online reference. The printed documentation led us through configuring the server, creating a postmaster account, and setting up an Internet gateway.
WorldMail is administered through the WorldMail Management Center application, a unified interface for adding, deleting, and changing users, groups, shared IMAP4 folders, Internet gateways, and other features. By default, the WorldMail Management Center is loaded onto the WorldMail server, but it can also be installed on a remote Windows NT machine.
Basic administrative features, such as user or group account changes, can also use a Web interface. Users can also log on to the LDAP directory via a Web browser and use a Java application to change their own mailbox settings--such as passwords or auto-reply messages--thus reducing some of an E-mail administrator's workload.
We had no trouble getting our three E-mail clients to work with WorldMail's IMAP4 and POP3 mailboxes.
Qualcomm's Eudora division, the makers of WorldMail, is also the developer of the Eudora Pro E-mail client for Windows and Macintosh, and Eudora Pro was one of the clients we used. WorldMail includes a utility to auto-configure Eudora Pro or Eudora Light clients using the Applications Configuration Access Protocol. However, this capability works only with Eudora's clients, and not with other ACAP-compatible software; so, although it worked quite nicely, this feature did not affect WorldMail's score.
WorldMail includes an LDAP directory; the software cannot be configured to use another directory. Therefore, even if you already have an enterprise directory that's LDAP-compliant, you can't standardize on a single directory. You can access the WorldMail directory externally, however, by pointing a browser to a specific TCP/IP port.
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