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Posted: Mon, February 14, 2005
Web Based Emailby Sali Earls Using web based email offers businesses many benefits including the ability to check email from anywhere in the world, archiving email and sending or receiving large files. While the market leader MS Hotmail currently offers 250MB of space, many of the providers now offer web mail services with at least 1GB of space. Searching for "web based email" in Google brings back about 27 million results, and the top 10 listed include the likes of Yahoo mail and Hotmail. But businesses looking for web based email solutions need to look a little further than these. There are countless options available on the market, but I have chosen some of the best to make the decision process that little bit easier for businesses wanting to make use of this service. Walla!Walla! is a free 1GB mail service with an easy set up process, and a stringent security policy. Setting up takes a matter of a couple of minutes, and once completed, the user interface is very basic and easy to use.  The benefits of Walla! are the same as many other web based email services, from the ability to access email from anywhere, and spam filtering, to its support of numerous languages and comprehensive anti virus scanning. The main downside that I see is that Walla! mail cannot be accessed from other email applications like Outlook, as the service does not support POP and SMTP.  For security reasons, each time you send an email, you have too enter an 8-digit code to prevent abuse of the system. While it adds to the security of the system, it is something that could easily become tiresome. United Email SystemsUnited Email Systems provide a free 3GB webmail service that is described as being spam and virus free. The sign up process is simple and gives you the option of selecting from a range of domain names in which to create your account. Once set up, you are taken to the mail page, and the interface is familiar and easy to use. Unlike Walla!, sending emails does not require passing through any additional security features, and is as quick and easy to use as it looks.  United Email Systems also offer additional services including blog, forum and search engine. Additionally, users can set up any current desktop email package, such as Outlook, to pick up their UES email, as it supports POP/SMTP services. Support issues can be dealt with via the home page support link. GmailAlso worth mentioning is Gmail, the free search-based email solution from Google, with one of the most advanced user interfaces on the market and also provides POP and SMTP settings. Although still running in it's Beta phase, the package has a lot to offer its limited user base and is simple to set up and use.Gmail uses Google's search technology to automatically organise messages, grouping an email and the replies to it as a conversation, allowing users to see messages in their proper context. This search technology also enables users to search for words or phrases not just within the "subject" and "from" fields, but also within the body of the email. This means that if used as an email archive, users can easily find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Other features include mail filtering, and a way of reporting spam.  However, while still in the Beta phase, a limited number of accounts have been released to assist with testing, and there is no information about when Gmail will be officially released. mail2web.comAlthough not an web mail service, mail2web.com provides an alternative to users that do not want to have to set up another email address. It offers an anonymous application enabling users to pick up other email - including conventional office based email. To access the email, users simply enter email address and password without the need to register. If users choose to register they can customise a personal homepage to store multiple email addresses in a preferred language, with a contact list, giving them an easy way to access all email accounts wherever they are. Messages are not downloaded onto the mail2web.com site, instead the service allows you to view the messages that are on the usual email server, where they remain until downloaded with the usual email package. A particular benefit of this service, is that mail2web.com can be used on almost any internet connected device, meaning that as well as using PCs, email can be accessed via internet TV, WAP phone or PDA. Using a WAP phone or PDA means that users access the service through a specific website set up for small screens (mail2web.com/wap and mail2web.com/pda) The biggest benefits web based email can provide business users are the ability to check email from wherever they are, and keep a permanent online archive record of email correspondence without utilising internal resources. Each of the email services reviewed meet these demands, but the extra space allowance of United Email Systems has great potential for sending and receiving very large files, and mail2web.com offers a unique and usable alternative to another email package. In my opinion, when Google's Gmail is available on general release, it will be the most highly subscribed and ultimately useful web based email service, thanks to it's search led architecture. No longer will users be frustrated when looking for that one particular email amongst thousands, they will be able to find exactly what they want quickly. As mentioned, Gmail is still in the test phase and if you know someone with a Gmail account you can ask them for an invitation to set up your own Beta account and see the benefit for yourself. The test phase will iron out any problems inherent with the service, and with internet bandwidth increasing exponentially, it is possible that the general release version may offer users more than the current 1GB allowance. Useful Links: Walla! mail2web.com |
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