A Less Enthusiastic Outlook

I've long believed in the importance of tying Web sites to e-mail. On my own Web site, I don't just solicit e-mail responses; I also give visitors the option to receive these columns as e-mail messages. Many businesses can and should use electronic mailings to circulate information in the same way to current and potential clients.

When you're e-mailing 200 people the same message, you can employ a device known as a distribution list or mailing list. For some time a free and powerful mail program called Pegasus has helped me in this task. Pegasus sprang from the remarkable mind of a lone New Zealand programmer named David Harris. It supports multiple distribution lists, as well as multiple address books, multiple mail accounts and powerful filtering rules to manage your mail. Unusually for freeware, Pegasus has won a strong corporate following.

Pegasus has its limitations, first among them a slightly eccentric interface which can leave users wading through a sea of open windows. It doesn't support HTML mail, the sort that displays like a Web page and which I expect to become increasingly common over the next 18 months. Even its text editing leaves a lot to be desired. And at first glance, it isn't obvious that moving a Pegasus distribution list between machines can be a relatively simple task.

So when I installed a new computer a month ago, I took the opportunity to move to a new mail program, Microsoft's Outlook Express (the free version of Outlook, not the messy and overloaded program in Microsoft Office). I lauded Outlook in this column as equalling or besting Pegasus in key areas. Now an admission: I may have been wrong to do so.

Beating Netscape

Outlook Express is one of two strong alternatives to Pegasus. The other comes from Microsoft's browser-bundle enemy, Netscape. Netscape Communicator, alone among the three, will cost a business user money, although it's available for "indefinite evaluation" to personal users. To many, it's a strong option; it pioneered HTML e-mail, contains a neat address book and a crude mailing list feature, and stands back-to-back with its solid Web browser cousin. But Communicator's increasingly busy interface, complete with purple-and-green colour scheme, won't endear it to all users. And to widespread disappointment, Netscape has ditched the previous version's three-pane mail window, which once led you logically down through folders, individual mail items and the messages themselves. Worst of all, Netscape won't allow one user to poll multiple mail accounts. For me, that put it out of the race.

Outlook has taken up where Netscape left off, even adopting the Netscape drag-and-drop three-pane window. Its Explorer Web browsing partner now shades Netscape's Navigator. And its user-friendliness and multiple e-mail account support made it a particularly attractive choice for me. It won't create mailing lists, but you can achieve the same result by copying a message to all the addresses listed in a sub-folder of the program's address book. (Tip for new players: make sure it's a "blind" carbon copy, or you may face privacy concerns.)

Losing to Pegasus

But Microsoft Outlook has one huge flaw for anyone trying to manage mail on a large scale. Its address book stinks, a real prawns-in-the-hubcap stench which will get right up the noses of many mail users.

Way back in version 2, Netscape let you click on a piece of mail and add its sender to your address book. Microsoft Outlook still won't do this. It can automatically add correspondents to the address book - but only, Lord knows why, when you reply to them, not when you receive their mail. And to compound the error, you can send a reply and still find that your mail receiver still hasn't gone into your address book. This bug appears entirely random; to get entries in, you simply have to catch Outlook in a good moment. Otherwise, you must type all the details in by hand. And while you can create sub-folders in Outlook's address book, you can't drag-and-drop entries into them.

David Harris's Pegasus Mail lacks the smooth interface of its giant rivals. But for anyone facing a big mailing task, it may still be the e-mail client to beat.

PC Magazine preferred Outlook Express to Netscape's Messenger.

Cnet rated Outlook Express above seven other mail clients, including Pegasus (and loved the Microsoft product's address book ...)

Microsoft Outlook Express can be downloaded as part of the Internet Explorer package.

Pegasus is available all on its own.

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