[Discuss] FOSS email that doesn't suck -- does such a thing exist?

[dbarrett at blazemonger.com (Daniel Barrett)]

I use Emacs's "VM" package, combined with fetchmail which downloads email
from a third-party IMAP server to my main home PC every few minutes.  To
access remotely, I just SSH in.

Advantages of this system:

- Email is stored on my own computer, in standard text files, so I can use
standard Linux tools to process it (grep etc.)

- Accessible from anywhere via SSH.

- Uses Emacs as the email editor, so it's not tied to someone else's
decisions of which editing commands are important & useful.

- The fabulous "vm-pcrisis.el" macro package, which conveniently maintains
an unlimited number of distinct outgoing email addresses (I use about 25 on
a regular basis)

Disadvantages:

- You have to type your email folder names, instead of seeing them listed
on screen, but this doesn't bother me, and emacs auto-complete makes it
easy.

- Attachments are a bit inconvenient, and there are a few irritating
MIME-related bugs.

- To see an HTML email, you have to render it in an external browser like
Chrome. Tied to an emacs keystroke.

I find this system convenient for maintaining 20+ years worth of email.  It
won't be to everyone's taste though.

--
Dan Barrett
dbarrett at blazemonger.com