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PINE Releases 4.50

wasaty writes "Yesterday new PINE came out. Main new feature is (at last!) threading support. Look here for a full list of changes." Ah, my first "real" e-mail program; watching it change is like watching evolution in motion.

18 of 410 comments (clear)

  1. threads by Orre · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Hasn't MUTT done that for years. And java to (bah ha im so funny)

  2. Re:Still useful by Fweeky · · Score: 5, Insightful
    When you're on the go, give PINE a call;-)

    Or mutt, which doesn't have such a large history of security holes, and which has had basic features like threading for years :P
  3. Re:Still useful by coryboehne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really, when I'm on a *nix box I prefer to use Pine over ANY other option.... I actually enjoy the somewhat antiquated interface (reminds me of the good ol' days when that was the only option) and I love the fact that it is super fast.

    I can't really understand the reason to add threading support... It's kinda like putting a bigger engine in a Corvette without putting more rubber on the ground.. It's a waste really, the program is so fast already with such low overhead that I have never had any problems with speed... Maybe I'm just missing something and there really is a great reason for this... I just don't see it.

    Oh well though, great to see that it is still being maintained by someone, and that there are others out there that care about the wonderful program known to all as PINE.

  4. In other news... by ivan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In other news, pine would have done this years ago had it truly been free software. Since they don't allow people to distribute modified versions, and they don't like to accept featere enhancements nobody does any work on it. For that reason, everybody with the patience to look for and learn something better has moved on to other text based mail clients.

  5. Re:Still useful by FFFish · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And which is now the default email client for my university; they tossed Pine the other week because it's a security risk...

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  6. version number management by jki · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Imagine that pine was first released in 1989 and yet the latest version number is reasonable. If this was something else - going to be polite and not mention it :) - you know what it would be like. I mean there's a point in it - the project is more than 10 years old but has stayed very consistent for the whole time. And talking about email clients, that's a miracle.

    Have you ever read the project history linked above: " Our goal was to provide a mailer that naive users could use without fear of making mistakes. We wanted to cater to users who were less interested in learning the mechanics of using electronic mail than in doing their jobs; users who perhaps had some computer anxiety". I think they have succeeded well, even now when everyone is used to having all the graphical bells and whistles my Mom - who had never used email before, learned pine quicker than outlook (she never learnt to use it, actually).

  7. Pine by sevensharpnine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pine was my first e-mail app too. But a single view of those old text menus (and memories of mails lost/rewritten) would send me running to the nearest GUI-driven mail program I could find.
    Use only as needed (imho).

    --
    "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire
    1. Re:Pine by SquadBoy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But how do you use a GUI client over an SSH tunnel when you are on a low bandwidth connection? The point is pick a tool that is right for the job and for *many* of us that means a CLI mail client.

      --

      Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
  8. Re:Still useful by misof · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well, pardon me if I'm wrong... but if you are fond of all-text interface (+aalib for viewing attached images, etc. :-) as I am and if you were really willing to learn _all_ the kbd shortcuts in pine, then mutt (and NOT pine) is the right client for you. Mutt has had threading support for _ages_, it is a much more powerful tool and the kbd shortcuts are IMHO more logical, especially to someone used to work with Linux and the editor vim.

  9. Users? by livio · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I'm really curious to know how many users still use pine? I remember when I first got in college, it was the "easiest" mail application for an UNIX-newbie, so I used it for about a week (I didn't like it, so I found out about Emacs VM and never used pine again :-), but now I think things have changed a bit, no?

    I mean, very new users tend to use graphical interfaces for almost everything... And there are plenty graphical MUAs ou there. And old, more "advanced" users tend to use more sofisticated or powerful MUAs (graphical or non-graphical), like Emacs' VM, Mutt, etc.

    So.... does Pine really still maintain a user-base? If so, what would be the reasons for these users sticking with Pine? (As you can see, I'm not a Pine fan ;), but anyways, I'd like to hear from those who are...).

  10. le mot juste by happystink · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Evolution in motion eh Hemos? As opposed to evolution which doesn't go forward, or uhh..

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  11. Re:Still useful by Jucius+Maximus · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "My school added an "amazing new webmail feature" this year, but I really wasn't that impressed with it. The sad thing is that they probably paid some company for the webmail app, even though you can download several different ones at freshmeat.net for free."

    It will still save them money because they will get significantly fewer calls from people who don't know how to set up pop3 and smtp in their Outbreak Express. My univ. also introduced one of these and it is pretty convenient. Click a quick shortcut in mozilla and enter uid/pass as opposed to starting telnet session, connect to mail server, start pine, go to inbox...

  12. Pasting to pine/pico from X selection by zorgon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have found that copy and paste (from somewhere else, into pine/pico) using highlight/middle button in X sessions results in a tangled mess -- particularly if it's over some other text, this text is overwritten and whatnot.

    Does anyone know if the new version of pine&pico has fixed this problem? I find it to be a big obstacle to useability. Merci.

    --

    I am quite civilized, and I should be brought a beer immediately. -- Bruce Sterling

  13. Re:Still useful by Tack · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm seeing a lot of posts in this thread basically saying "I use lots of different computers and I can access PINE anywhere -- who needs web mail?"

    The problem is with security. There are two ubiquitous tools on almost any computer: a telnet client, and a web browser. In fact, computers rarely have ssh clients installed. So if you want to access PINE remotely, you must telnet in, and I don't need to explain why that's bad.

    Alternatively, web mail can be setup with https, and I'd be much more comfortable checking my email when I visit my friend in Europe (for instance) via https, rather than telnet. Of course, _any_ option is a security risk when you're using a public terminal (in a library of internet cafe, say), but if you trust the computer you're using, webmail via https is safer than pine via telnet. And it's easier than installing putty on every computer you want to check email from.

    Jason.

  14. Re:SSH for mail is a hack. by BusDriver · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is it an ugly hack?

    It's secure. It's quick and easy.

    I'm at an internet cafe right now. It's much easier and fast for me to download putty and ssh to my box than to wait for 20 minutes for mozilla to download, then for me to install it and to set it up etc. Then I have to remember to uninstall it when I leave the cafe, so that others don't get my info/headers that may get left behind.

    Not to mention it leaves another port open on my box for the world to see. I'd much rather just have port 22 open.

    I agree with your comment, imap over ssl is nice, but it's not always easy or quick. I also can't see why you'd call it an ugly hack?

    Tim

  15. Re:Still useful by gallir · · Score: 3, Insightful
    can't really understand the reason to add threading support... It's kinda like putting a bigger engine in a Corvette without putting more rubber on the ground.. It's a waste really, the program is so fast already with such low overhead that I have never had any problems with speed... Maybe I'm just missing something and there really is a great reason for this... I just don't see it.

    Bad, bad, moderators :-). He is not a troll, he's a moron.

    It doesn't mean anything like "POSIX Threads. "Threads in Pine" means "message threading", you know, that magic thing that sort and "join" related messages. As my answer to you, here in /.

    --
    sgis ddo ekil t'nod i
  16. an idle thought re: licensing by timothy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Since the biggest objection I can see to PINE is the licensing (and since it's already installed on the system which receives my email, it's not something which bothers me, even, and I stress *even* if it otherwise would), I wonder why UWashington does not give in and dual-license it.

    Even a one-time release of a particular code snapshot under the GPL or BSD or [insert license] (with no intention of coordinating any further development of that branch) would / should satisfy most of the complainers :)

    This is just an off-the-cuff thought, but ... why not?

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  17. Threading by donsaklad · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Regarding threading, how do you set up gnus email if you're not an experienced programmer but do have gnus newsgroups running in emacs?... Most explanations have been too complicated for novices to set up gnus email. oo__ dsaklad@gnu.org