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Web Browsers and Email—Day 10© Copyright Darrell Anderson. I have been using the Firefox browser for the past two years (beginning with Phoenix 0.5). Way back around version 0.7 I experimented with running Firefox in both of my operating systems and I learned how to share bookmarks, cache, userChrome.css, and userContents.css within a multi-boot system. The same approach should work for networked computers. Sharing Firefox files between the two environments is straightforward. Sharing my mail files is a challenge. I have no interest in only surfing the web with GNU/Linux while maintaining my mail on NT. That’s counter-productive. When I commit to connecting to the web with GNU/Linux, I want to be able to surf and exchange mail there. Thus, an initial primary challenge is getting IPTables configured, then migrating Firefox, then migrating mail. If I can’t convert those tasks then my GNU/Linux experience remains only an experiment. The trick is not ultimately migrating but surviving the transition period. That means for a while I’ll want to surf and exchange mail through either system. That means sharing data and configuration files. I have been watching the Thunderbird project for a long time although I never tested the product. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed from the discussion forum that many Eudora users return to Eudora after testing Thunderbird because of several missing features. Perhaps with time Thunderbird will mature to remedy that emptiness. I am not a Eudora power user, but I use several of the features that Eudora provides. I do not know if Thunderbird will be an adequate replacement for me. Thunderbird might work for me because I am not a Eudora power user. Perhaps not. The time required to investigate and test is what discourages me! KMail can use the same mbox file format as Eudora, but I once read that Eudora uses a slightly different internal header structure that prohibits sharing those files between products. The two tools also use different indexing. I do not know if I can configure my mail box setup exactly the same way in KMail as I have in Eudora. Thus, moving to KMail seems like an all-or-nothing approach. I have no interest in Evolution because I have no need or interest in scheduling and calendaring. All I need is an email client. I’m not interested in IMAP and with a dial-up account is not an option. A primary reason I remained with Eudora for several years is the program allows me to open several concurrent sessions. This is important to me because I help another individual with email, and I cannot mix that mail with my own. I want that mail contained in a separate directory as I currently do with Eudora. For my personal use I have several email addresses. Another challenge is I have been using Eudora for years, almost as long as Word 97. The familiarity and comfortability problem stares me in the face once again. I might not be able to run several concurrent instances of Thunderbird, but the ability to configure multiple profiles might alleviate the problem of storing mail in separate locations. One obvious option is to install WINE, but I have read many stories from frustrated people who pursued that route. I could buy Crossover Office (CxO). That solution allows me to run Eudora because I know people are running Eudora on CxO without problems. That solution also allows me to run Word 97, a program fully supported in CxO. Although unsupported, possibly too CxO will run my ancient version of Visio as well as some other utilities. Down the road I do not want to maintain two separate boxes. Although multi-booting tends to be a nuisance, I think the WINE/CxO approach probably is the more sensible strategy. That strategy allows me to use my Word and Eudora data from either operating system. That transitional step helps reduce stress in migrating. A key is learning how to correctly edit the WINE configuration files to point to the C:, D:, and E: partitions on my NT side. I know that writing to NTFS is not well supported in the Linux kernel, but the way I have Word and Eudora configured those programs never write to their respective home directories located on D: or the system C: partition. I need only worry about converting my E: data partition to FAT32. If I run Windows programs within GNU/Linux, one thing I haven’t yet discovered is how to protect against unsolicited outbound internet traffic. The Kerio firewall provides the ability to write individual outbound rules against specific programs to avoid numerous phone home problems. I helped an individual do this with XP and we finished with about a dozen individual rules to prevent “phone home” nonsense. I realize GNU/Linux programs usually do not send outbound traffic unless asked, but running Windows programs through CxO or WINE might allow such nonsense. I’ll be running old versions of Windows programs, old enough not to be contaminated with the phone home philosophy, but I am concerned that down the road the IPTables firewall will not protect me against unexpected outbound traffic. As GNU/Linux gains popularity, so will the shenanigans as software vendors try to penetrate that market. Is there a way to stop outbound traffic on a per-program basis? I don’t know, but I think writing specific per-application firewall rules is smart. For people who have used computers for years as a tool and not a hobby, migrating is a serious issue. Migrating cannot happen overnight. When the user is a single-person team wearing all the hats for managing that system, new learning curves necessarily mean lots of time. There just is no easy way to get from here to there! Finis. |
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