Outlook replacement

[Dustin Decker]

On Wed, 5 Feb 2003, Jeremy Fowler wrote:

> Gotta bust your stones on this...

Hehe... I knew when I saw Hal's post I'd catch flack on this one.  Shot 
too quick.

> > For starters, SMTP is the simple mail transport protocol.  This is the
> > protocol used _between_ one mail server and another.  Unless you're hand
> > crafting spam, it is highly unlikely you will ever make use of it
> > directly.  The proper jargon for the server in this case is an MTA or
> > message transport authority.
> 
> ...and between mail client and server. It is the _ONLY_ way to actually send
> email.

True - you just need an open relay - be it your own, or that provided by 
your upstream.  (Might wanna look and see who owns the IP range the school 
uses - there might be one available for sending that isn't blocked, so 
all you'ld have to convince the local admin to do is open pop or imap for 
local retreival or access.)

> > POP is the post office protocol.  Generally, this protocol is used by a
> > mail reader to connect to the mail server, and retrieve all messages to
> > local storage (although it can often be configured to leave copies on the
> > server).  This protocol is also used to submit your newly composed
> > messages to the server.  The server will then use SMTP to deliver it to
> > the final destination mail server.  As you can see here, this probably
> > isn't at all what you're dealing with.
> 
> Nope, not to submit - Receive only.

Doh!  My primary flaw on the quick hip shot.

> > IMAP is the internet message access protocol.  It is a method of accessing
> > electronic mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a (possibly
> > shared) mail server.  This is sort of POP on steroids with better
> > features.  Then again, it depends on the mail client, also referred to as
> > an MUA or mail user agent.
> 
> Not quite like POP, with IMAP your mailbox on the server is able to store
> messages in folders. When you connect, the mailbox on your local PC is sync'd
> with the mailbox on the server. Sometimes, there isn't even a local copy and all
> work is done directly on the server.

That's why I said "_sort of_ POP on steroids".  I didn't really feel like 
typing a whole lot.  It is important to remember that IMAP (IIRC) doesn't 
send at all.

> That proprietary protocol is what Microsoft calls MAPI. It is required to use
> Outlook's more advanced features (Sharing Contacts, Tasks, Calendars, Forms,
> etc.) These features are unavailable with just IMAP.

Right - this guy just wants to send/receive mail I thought.  Perhaps not, 
which is why I would expect he's looking for a replacement.  If it's just 
mail though, no biggie to get around it if configured properly.  Why else 
would they provide these services on Exchange 5.5?  Surely they didn't 
expect an ISP to use it.  (Yuck!)

> > Your admin, in my opinion, has taken the "I'll bash Microsoft products
> > (exchange) for being completely insecure, and nobody will notice I don't
> > know how to administer them" tack.  It will eventually be his undoing.
> > You need to get a handful of folks to squeak enough to get this guy
> > greased into providing you the access you need.
> > Dustin
> 
> Well, has anyone considered that perhaps he limits what protocols are accepted
> because he is really anal about security? Why have POP3, IMAP, IIS, etc. running
> if you force your users to connect one way and one way only? Less ports open,
> less things to worry about. -Jeremy

Ordinarily I'd agree, but given the information we've seen so far, I still 
think the guy is hiding behind a lame excuse.  Contrary to popular belief, 
Microsoft products can be made exceptionally secure - they just don't ship 
that way for obvious sales reasons.  (My favorite distro, Red Hat, suffers 
from this as well.)  It's behind a firewall - what's the harm in providing 
these services locally to his users?  And when did educational 
institutions finally learn to be so paranoid?  Aren't they traditionally 
about sharing and all that good anti security-nazi stuff?  <giggles>

D.

-- 
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