🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <375152367wnr@kits.demon.co.uk> [Mon, 05 Feb 1996 12:12:22 
GMT], Kit Smithers says...
>
>
>I have a "Feature Request" for WinDis32. 
>
>According to the about box this is the place to post such
>requests (demon.ip.developers). I'm cross-posting to the
>win95 group in the hope of drumming up support for the change.

Unfortunately, you will not find the same exhortation in the 'About 
Box' of Windis32 version 3.1 which is the current and final release. 
For various reasons, it has been decided that there will be no further 
development of Windis. Thanks for the thought though.

>I'm not sure if it is technically feasible but I cannot think
>of a reason why not.
>
>Quick Feature description:
>
>If a demon connection is open then when a Pop3 request comes
>from the mail program (eg: Exchange) then before closing the
>connection go and check the demon mailbox and get any waiting
>mail. The point being that Exchange will (as I use it) hang up
>the connection before any mail waiting on demon can get sent 
>to WinDis.

However, in any case, what you are asking is not feasible. 

The delivery of mail from Demon to your host is by SMTP. What Windis is 
doing in this scenario is making it _possible_ to use the Exchange 
client by acting as a buffer between the way SMTP works and the way 
POP3 works. It can't make SMTP behave like POP3. The concept of 
"checking your mailbox" simply has no meaning in SMTP.

Your end has to wait until the sending end (Demon) decides to initiate 
a transfer which (all things being well and if there is mail waiting) 
it will try to do very shortly after you login and at 
about 5 minutes intervals thereafter. It sounds like the way you have 
scripted your connection doesn't take account of this. Windis can help 
with its auto-logout facility but perhaps someone who knows more about 
Win95 than I do can comment on the best way of achieving this.

On the more general point though, its perhaps worth saying that Demon 
have gone out on a limb on this issue. AFAIK they are the only service 
provider who deliver mail to 'ordinary' dial-up uers using SMTP. Most 
use POP3. There are of course pros and cons to this approach and not 
being able to "force" mail retrieval is perhaps one of the downsides. 
However, the big advantage is that you have total control over the 
mailboxes at your site so you can have as many of them as you wish and 
process the mail in whatever way (and with whatever software) you see 
fit. FWIW, I strongly believe Demon have got it right on this point.

Follow-ups to d.i.s.win95

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Colin Spensley    <colin@alecto.demon.co.uk>
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