Still Running RICEMAIL or Very Old MAILBOOK?
Are you a user of the old free RiceMail package? Have you put off moving up from RiceMail to MailBook? It's time to take another look at MailBook. Here's what you'll get when you make the move:
- New Features
- Year2000 Compliance
MailBook is fully Year2000 compliant.
- Support for Mailers at other Internet locations
If a MAILER address is a domain name, MailBook will now deliver to that mailer via an SMTP connection.
- Recognition of URLs in mail messages
Pressing the Enter key anywhere in a URL in a message will now call a Web browser if one is defined.
- Support for sending messages DIRECT to recipients not on RSCS networks.
MailBook will now open an SMTP connection to attempt to deliver such mail.
- MIME support.
MailBook now fully supports MIME-encoded attachments, even if the attachment type cannot be displayed on a 3270 screen. Users can attach files of any type to outgoing messages using the new ATTACH subcommand. Multipart messages are treated like a notebook of separate messages, allowing users to choose which of the parts should be read in which order.
- Support for MIME attributes on the FILE parameter
The FILE parameter now uses MIME type, charset, and encoding values. If the file is not a text file, then unless the NOEDIT parameter is specified, the file will be attached instead of being inserted into the body of the message. If the NOEDIT parameter is specified, the message will be set to the correct MIME type and delivered.
- New experimental MIME type for CMS files
A new experimental MIME type of Application/X-IBM-file is provided to allow passing important CMS filesystem parameters such as record format, logical record length, and the datestamp value. Several formats are available to allow easy communication between other IBM systems which can support them, including MVS and VSE systems. Two new parameters to the MAIL command and ATTACH subcommands are provided: FORMAT and OLDDATE.
- Optional replacement for SMTPSEND EXEC
With the improved handling provided by the new FILE parameter support for MIME typing, MailBook now provides an optional replacement for the IBM TCP/IP product's SMTPSEND EXEC file that will correctly send a properly constructed MIME message via email regardless of file type. The existing IBM SMTPSEND EXEC sends any
file as a plain text file.
- Support for mail files wider than 80 columns.
The old 80-column restriction has been totally removed. MailBook can both send and receive mail messages of any width up to 65535. A WIDTH option on the READ and SEND subcommands allows controlling the width of the message in addition to the default value.
- READONLY option
A READONLY option on the MAILBOOK command line allows working with notebooks on R/O disks without getting warning messages.
- New FORWARD subcommand
The FORWARD subcommand now interoperates with non-MailBook users better, by incorporating the entire original message, including headers, into a new message. The old RiceMail behavior is provided by a new RESEND subcommand. Non-MailBook email programs often do not recognize the RFC822 Resent- headers that RiceMail used, producing unexpected results when recipients tried to reply to the forwarded mail.
- Improved QUERY subcommand.
The QUERY subcommand now allows users to change any of the options.
- New SEARCH subcommand.
The new SEARCH subcommand allows searching for any string anywhere in a notebook, limiting the menu display to only those messages which contain the string.
- Support for printing wide files.
The PRINT subcommand supports an option to printing files which are wider than the carriage of the virtual printer. Another new option allows the user to specify the maximum line length when printing
- New REPLACE option for SUSPEND
The SUSPEND subcommand supports a REPLACE option to allow overwriting of an existing suspended mail message.
- New EXTRACT subcommand
The new EXTRACT subcommand allows easy copying of the body of a mail message into a separate file.
- POP3 client capability
Provides a POP3 client for CMS users, allowing them to use a POP3 mail server that can be somewhere other than the mainframe.
- Replies can go to a different address by default
Some people want to have replies to their mail go to a different address from the one sending the mail. A new option, REPLYTO.ADDRESS allows setting a REPLYTO default option. The option can be set from the Options menu, as well.
- Local domain names will always be used
Mail to a local user will always be sent using the local domain name, even if a simple nodename was specified.
- Dates will be created with 4-digit years
Date headers now are generated using 4-digit years, even though RFC822 specifies 2 digits.
- Improved Performance
- Major performance boost.
MailBook provides significant performance improvements over the old RiceMail package.
- Decreased CPU and I/O load.
Extensive work has been done to decrease CPU and I/O usage. Some portions of the code were rewritten in assembler, producing speedups of close to 100 times.
- Logical Segments
The entire product can be put into logical segments to improve overall system performance. All assembler modules are reentrant.
- Improved Usability
- Fewer windows
Messages from CP are now routed to the Message window, instead of the CMS window. This means that the RiceMail problem that caused two windows to pop up when a mail message was received has been eliminated.
- New format for HELP files
The HELP files have been completely rewritten to be more useful. The old syntax diagrams have been replaced with railroad track style syntax diagrams.
- Rewritten User's Guide
The User's Guide has been completely rewritten.
- Fewer screen flashes
For the majority of CMS users who do not run with FULLSCREEN ON, MailBook avoids some annoying screen flashes by changing the timing of fullscreen startup.
- Improved name handling
MailBook will ask only once for a user's name if no entry exists in his or her NAMES file, instead of every time a message is sent, as RiceMail did. It will then attempt to create a entry for the user automatically.
- Improved Pull-down menus
Pull-down menu handling is improved to allow a user to open another pull-down directly, instead of first closing one pull-down then opening the next one.
- Audible feedback when unused PF key pressed
In RiceMail, pressing an unused PF key in a window would silently ignore the key. MailBook will sound the alarm when an invalid PF key is pressed.
- Improved Customizability
- Default setting of LOCAL.DOMAIN from TCP/IP data
MailBook will now attempt to obtain the value of LOCAL.DOMAIN from the underlying TCP/IP support if the LOCAL.DOMAIN option is not set.
- New functions can be assigned to PF keys.
New functions include Status, Save As, New Message, and Previous message.
- Macro support
Users can write their own MailBook macros, in effect creating their own MailBook commands.
- New TRANSMIT exit
The TRANSMIT exit point allows actions to be taken just before mail is sent.
- New FIRSTCMD exit
The FIRSTCMD exit point allows actions to be taken just before the first time the user issues a MailBook subcommand.
- Additional options
Several new options allow more ways to customize the functioning of MailBook. CREATE.INDEX controls whether or not an index file will be created for a notebook without one. DOMAIN.QUALIFIER allows appending a domain string to unqualified addresses. OV.MAILBOX allows sites which also use OfficeVision/VM to specify the names of OfficeVision mailbox manager service machines.
- Local address validation exit
A special user exit allows sites which limit the use of the CP LINK command to supply a means for verifying that a local address is valid.
- Control of removal of .BITNET
BITNET sites can now control whether a trailing .BITNET on email addresses will be stripped.
- Improved Reliability
- Major rewrite of code
MailBook is almost a complete rewrite of the old RiceMail package, fixing bugs and improving the code stability substantially.
- Modularity
Instead of a single monolithic routine, MailBook has been modularized to improve its maintainability.
- Improved Installability
- New INSTALL exec
A new INSTALL exec allows a very simple installation of MailBook, using a pop-up window with fill-in entry fields.
- Easier source patching
The source patch exec has been improved.
- CMS PIPELINE support improvements
A runtime version of CMS PIPELINEs is provided with MailBook, providing a version of pipelines support that is higher than that provided with CMS 12, even for sites running old versions of VM that did not contain pipelines support. The runtime support can be put into a separate logical segment to maximize system performance.
How to Order MailBook
If you're interested in bringing the benefits of MailBook to your shop, we offer a 30-day no-risk evaluation period on every license. Ask us for a copy of the license agreement, sign and return it, and we'll send you to product for your evaluation. We're confident that you'll love it!
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