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David Harris wrote:

There has been considerable interest in the changes Pegasus Mail v4.0
is going to have when it is released, and also in *when* it is likely
to be released. This message is intended to provide an overview and to
explain why it's so difficult for me to estimate a release date.

The primary design aims in v4.0 are to enhance the existing
functionality, and to provide new functionality that many people have
requested - *but*, to do so in a way that is familiar and consistent
with the standards Pegasus Mail has set in its eleven year life. Some
people have tried to tell me that I should abandon the Pegasus Mail
user interface and make one that looks like Outlook, but this seems
pointless to me. It is clear that while many people like the approach
taken by Outlook, not everyone does:
Pegasus Mail's interface has proven itself a viable and worthy
alternative over the course of a long, user-driven life, and I am not
about to flag that away. Having said that, I will be making some
concessions to people who want a "more-Outlook-like" feel in v4.0.

So, without further ado, here is the core list of what are planning to
do in v4.0. This list is not in any specific order.

* Overhauled message reader.
V4.0 has exactly one message reader window, which can present all
types of data. The window has multiple tabs, one each for the body and
headers, for attachments, for annotations, and for a totally raw view.
Splitting attachments to their own tab has allowed us to improve
attachment handling beyond recognition - you can now forward or reply
to individual sections or groups of sections of multipart messages,
and the view of the attachments is much more like what users are used
to seeing in Windows Explorer. The new reader is the most visibly
different thing in v4.0, and most users may find it takes a short
period of adaptation to get used to it; but we believe it provides the
best possible balance between usability and functionality. It's also
very fast.

* Improved handling of HTML.
HTML mail is an absolute can of worms, as everyone surely knows by
now. Pegasus Mail v4.0 attempts to provide improved display of HTML
mail while preserving its current complete insulation from HTML
nasties such as viruses and image bugs. We now support HTML messages
with inline graphics (provided those graphics are encapsulated in the
message, in line with MHTML conventions), and v4.0 can also generate
safe, reliable HTML messages including tables, lines, graphics and
other fancy features - all guaranteed virus and trojan-free.

* Improved forwarding.
Forwarding mail, especially when it has attachments, is an area where
Pegasus Mail has traditionally been slightly weak: not in v4.0. We
have completely rewritten the forwarding support for v4.0 to correct
the weaknesses our users have told us about. I believe that v4.0's
handling of mail forwarding will meet or exceed the expectations of
any user.

* New addressbook.
The Pegasus Mail v3.x addressbook format has served faithfully for
seven years, but it's no longer able to cope with the wider range of
needs people now have. V4.0 incorporates an addressbook that we want
to be the best in the industry: v4.0 Addressbook entries allow you to
tailor all mail settings for the messages you send using them; they
also allow you to keep unlimited notes of any size, including
pictures, formatting and more, to keep comprehensive history of the
mail you've sent using the entry, to set dates and alarms, even to
store mail messages of interest as part of the entry itself. As well
as this, you will be able to create your own addressbook fields either
on an entry-by-entry basis, or as common fields for the entire
addressbook. Sizes will be practically unlimited in addressbook
entries - you want to have 1,000 e-mail addresses in a single
v4.0 addressbook entry? No problem. The v3.x addressbook format will
remain supported in v4.0, and it will be easy to import v3.x
addressbooks into the v4.0 format. We will be providing a Mercury
protocol module to allow remote management and access to addressbooks:
combining this with IMAP will allow Pegasus Mail to be run in a
completely remote manner.

* Outlook-style "preview mode".
V4.0 will support an optional folder view similar to that used by
Outlook and other mail packages. In this view, one large window will
contain your folder list, the contents of a selected folder, and a
preview of the selected message in that folder. This preview mode will
be an option that can be turned on and off and will thus complement
the separate-window model Pegasus Mail currently uses.

* Calendaring and task management.
The subject of many requests, this... Pegasus Mail v4.0 will finally
include a comprehensive calendaring module with alarms, events and
actions, allied with a powerful task manager that will allow you to
plan and manage complex tasks. The task manager is something like a
cross between a to- do list and a project manager - more capable than
the former, and less complex than the latter. The initial version of
the calendaring/task management code will be a personal
implementation, but the hooks are in place to allow simple group
scheduling via a Mercury protocol module, which will follow sometime
reasonably soon after the v4.0 initial release. The same Mercury
module will allow remote access to your scheduling information.

* PIM integration.
One of the primary design issues in both the calendaring module and
the addressbook is to allow integration with PIM devices, such as the
Palm Pilot. At the very least we will provide simple import/export
between our formats and the Palm, and our aim is to provide full
synchronization facilities. We understand how important it is for us
to get this part of the equation right, and will be doing our very
best to provide the most seamless levels of integration possible.

* Secure folders / compressed folders.
V4.0 will support a new folder model which will allow you to password-
protect and encrypt your folders, and optionally compress the data
they contain. With this folder format in place, it finally becomes
sensible to allow password-controlled access to the program at
startup, so we'll be adding that as well.

* Total overhaul of the IMAP code.
We are completely rewriting the Pegasus Mail IMAP client code to make
it faster, more efficient, and more usable in a wider variety of
scenarios. With the recent release into public testing of our Mercury
IMAP server, we expect IMAP to become increasingly important to both
organizations and individuals alike, and we are committed to providing
client code in Pegasus Mail that reflects this importance. As an
example, it will be possible to use v4.0 as an IMAP-only mail program
- one without local folders. IMAP performance should typically be
anything from 100% to 500% faster in v4.0, depending on configuration.

* Total overhaul of the POP3/SMTP code.
Pegasus Mail has supported multiple POP3 accounts for years, but I
think we can do it even better. V4 will allow you to create multiple
POP3 accounts for each identity you use, and there will be lots of new
options, like settable poll times (you can have some POP3 accounts
polled less often than others, for example), server-side filtering
prior to download, and more.

* Python scripting language.
Pegasus Mail has a completely new object-oriented interface for use by
extensions and plugins. We have taken advantage of this interface to
provide a special plugin layer for the Python scripting language, a
widely- used Open Source scripting engine. Using this, it will be
possible to develop your own scripts to do just about anything, and
integrate them into Pegasus Mail. And yes, we will be making sure that
we don't fall into the same traps as Microsoft regarding problems with
scripts executed by mail.

* 32-bit only.
This isn't exactly a feature, but I decided I had to mention it. There
will not be a 16-bit version of Pegasus Mail v4.0 - I can no longer
get updates for most of the tools I use for 16-bit development, and
with the quality of the Novell Client libraries now being very good,
there's really no longer any valid reason for a site to use the 16-bit
version in preference to the 32-bit version. The 16-bit v3.12 version
will remain available and will be given occasional bug fixes, but
there will be no further major 16-bit development of Pegasus Mail.

--

These are the most notable changes planned for v4.0, but there is also
a myriad of other improvements, like faster startup, an improved
filtering interface with new rules/actions, customizable toolbars,
auto-correction in the editor, changes in encryption to provide hooks
for things like S/MIME and MIME/PGP - and more and more.

It should be clear from this feature list that v4.0 is a genuinely
major step forward for the program - easily the most major since the
v3.0 release two years ago. Unfortunately, it takes time to write this
much code, especially when a lot of it involves extensive internal
changes, and it takes a long time to test it, too. As a result, I
simply can't tell you when v4.0 might be released: it might be late in
January, or it might be late in February; if everything goes wrong, it
might even be later, although naturally I hope it doesn't come to
that. Estimating deadlines has got me into all kinds of trouble in the
past, so I'm deeply hesitant about doing it now - I just hope you will
accommodate me on this. Suffice it to say that I am writing this with
v4.0 beta 6, and that I expect we may have as many as 25 beta rounds
prior to release. At present, I have all the beta testers I can
manage, but if I need more at any point, I will make that fact known.

I'm very excited about Pegasus Mail v4.0 - I've put an enormous amount
of planning and preparation into its development over the course of
the year 2000, and I believe it will be well worth the wait - I hope
this summary allows you to share some of my excitement; I'm just sorry
I can't do more to allay your impatience... :-)

Cheers!

-- David --


------------------ David Harris -+- Pegasus Mail
----------------------
  Box 5451, Dunedin, New Zealand | e-mail: David.Harris@pmail.gen.nz
           Phone: +64 3 453-6880 | Fax: +64 3 453-6612

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