Chapter 11. Electronic Mail Clients

These days, it seems that when we think about the Internet, we think about Web browsers first. To those of us who have been on the Net for more years than we care to admit, that always seems a bit strange. The chief medium of information exchange on the Internet has always been electronic mail, or e-mail. Although the perception has changed, e-mail is probably still the number-one application in the connected world.

For a powerful, graphical e-mail client, you need look no further than your KDE desktop. Its e-mail package is called KMail, and I'm going to tell you all about it. KMail can be run as a solo application, but it is also tightly integrated into the new and powerful Kontact groupware suite. Users coming from Outlook or similar clients will be familiar with the handy accessibility of multiple functions such as address books, calendars, and to-do lists. Keep reading, though. In just a few keystrokes, you'll be sending and receiving mail like a Linux pro.

I'm also going to talk about an alternative package called Evolution. Those of you who are coming from that other OS and who might be pining for the look and feel (and the integration) of Outlook are going to be pleasantly surprised. Evolution integrates many powerful features, including a contact manager and a well connected organizer.