From: boyd@shmop.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd)
Subject: Re: Elm sales pitch...
Reply-To: boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu
Organization: Florida State University Computer Science Department
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 05:26:42 GMT

In article <1aqu89INNcch@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher) writes:
>I'm helping out a friend. He's trying to convince the powers_that_rule
>at his bitbucket that elm would be a Real Good Idea on their new
>org-wide mailserver. (They presently run {ugh} /bin/mail.)
>
>While I can write up something, I'm also looking for any spiel that
>others have used, especially if it worked ;-}
>

Here is mine, from a "new software" mailout to our grads/faculty.  I also 
installed pico, a simple text editor (part of the pine mailer package).  The 
combination of the two has worked out great for some of our non-computer type  
staff.  I set up a default elmrc with some sensible values (I wish elm could 
be hamstrung even more than just the "beginner" mode, but I guess I could 
always UTSL).  Hope you like it.


--------begin included text---------


elm -  A complete replacement for the "mail" command.  It is vastly superior to 
       "mail", both in power and ease of use.  I highly recommend this one.
       If you get lots of email, you REALLY should look at this program.  The 
       complete printed manuals for this package are in /usr/local/doc/elm2.3,
       in the form of several PostScript files.  The user manual is about 14 
       pages long.  All the manuals together are about 50-60 pages.  You can 
       preview the manuals with ghostview, or print them.  The system group
       has one copy available for check out.  For more information, see below.

newmail - actually a part of the elm package.  It is a replacement for "biff"
       which is the program that blurts out "new mail from xxxx" when you 
       are logged in and receive mail.  It is nicer, and solves some of the 
       annoying problems of biff.  Can be used independently of elm. 

pico - an EXTREMELY basic editor, designed specifically for editing email.  
       Most commands are shown at the bottom of the screen, and a full help
       page can be seen with one key.  Arrow keys work.  It is a watered down 
       version of emacs.  Almost no experience is needed to make this editor
       work for you (very unlike vi or gmacs).  Supports spell checking and 
       paragraph justification.  A good match with elm, above (yes, elm 
       automatically uses the text editor of your choice to enter email!!!).
       Of course, it can also be used for general text editing.

       [.......]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elm summary follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Elm is a replacement for the "mail" command.  It is menu oriented, has 
online help screens, and is much more flexible than old "mail".  It can be
used in two main ways (just like "mail").  To send mail to someone, type
"elm someone@cs".  To read and process your mail, just type "elm".  

I strongly suggest that you try this program out.  Here are some big points in 
its favor:

    It is menu oriented.  You can move up and down the list of messages with 
    the arrow keys (or "j" and "k"), tagging them for deletion or other 
    operation, read them, etc.  A menu of command is displayed at the 
    bottom of the screen at all times, and online help is two ?'s away.

    Elm can display the list of messages in lots of different ways, such as 
    "by date sent", "reverse by date sent" (so the new mail is at the top), 
    "sorted by sender", "sorted by size", etc. etc.  You can make any of these
    the default.  

    It automatically calls your text editor of choice when it is time to 
    enter the body of the message.  If you really like mail's lack of an 
    editor (bleech) you can tell elm to do the same.

    When replying to a message, it will ask if you wish to include the text 
    of that message (indented with "> "'s), so you can refer to it in your 
    answer.  This is much more effective than trying to paraphrase the other 
    user's mail (without looking at it), as you usually end up doing in "mail".

    You can have elm automatically append a .signature file to all of your 
    mail.  See the bottom of this mailout for an example. 

    You can set it up to print messages (to a printer) with one keystroke.

    It can save messages in an intelligent way.  You can even get it to save
    all mail both from AND to a user in the same file (so you have a record of
    complete dialogs with that user).  Of course, if you just want to save a 
    message into some arbitrary filename, it can do that too. 

    Many of the common options of elm can be changed in the "options" menu
    and the configuration saved automatically.  No more hacking on your 
    ".mailrc" file.

    Elm has a very powerful aliasing scheme.  There is a utility in the 
    elm package that will convert your old aliases (in your .mailrc file) into
    elm aliases, so you don't have to retype them. 

This program is well worth looking into (especially if you get LOTS of email).
It is certainly easier to use than "mail" (consider this:  "mail" was
originally designed to work on a PRINTER terminal, with NO screen). 



-- 
  ****************************************************************************
  *                              Mickey Boyd                                 *
  *                         Systems Administrator                            *
  *          Florida State University Computer Science Department            *
  * email:  boyd@cs.fsu.edu  Office:  (904) 644-7339  Pager:  (904) 657-6425 *
  ****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm