Email is, arguably, the most important service offered on the Internet. Email ranks alongside the World Wide Web as one of the twin pillars of modern technological existence.
Email is also one of the oldest services.
Not surprisingly, given that the Internet was developed primarily on Unix systems, there is a rich heritage of mail readers available to Linux and Unix users. The basic breakdown of Linux email packages is text vs. graphical. Text-based email readers have been around since the beginning. What type of reader you use is largely a matter of preference or religion. Let's begin by looking at the text-based readers.