exchange email?

David Ford david at blue-labs.org
Sun Jan 21 18:31:40 CET 2007


All servers using current methods are notifying the client that new 
content is available using current protocols.

The server can't know where the client is until the client pipes up and 
says "i'm over here at 10.0.0.5" nor can they know what is new content 
unless the client tells them what they don't have.  The client is the 
one that establishes the initial connection to the server.

The closest logical analogy to "push email" is SMTP where a remote 
server connects to your server and says I have something new for you, 
here, take it.  There is no negotiation of what is new because the 
remote server decides it's new.  Another analogy is getting a text 
message on a pager.

But back to POP3/IMAP, the client connects and issues a "find new since 
xxxx".  They then exchange the content.  Newer clients use the IDLE type 
of commands whereby the client stays connected but just sits there until 
the server pipes up and sends it a "you've got mail!" message.  And then 
they exchange content and the client goes back to just sitting there.

Older clients will connect and every X minutes ask for new mail and 
disconnect.  That's the commonly known poll method.  New clients stay 
connected and generally just sleep in between server messages - 
including this "Push Email" thing from microsoft.

It still isn't "pushed email" any more than the protocols that already 
exist. :)

It's just another example of taking the product out of the another box, 
making a new plastic form to position things in, putting it in a new 
shiny microsoft certified box and selling it as innovation.

It gives fanboys something to spend their money on for what already 
exists for free; just a new marketing name for it and it gives techies 
their dose of "innovation" humor.

-david

Dean Collins wrote:
> "Microsoft "push email" isn't push at all.  If you read the 
> specifications, it's just another method of polling a server to 
> determine if and what segments of new content is ready for transfer."
>
>
> Hmmm well I'm not an expert so whatever you say however from my
> understanding it is the server that notifies the handset that there is
> email available for it not the handset polling the server.
>
> In my definition .....that's push email (also does it for contact/tasks
> etc changes as well). 
>  
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Collins
> Cognation Pty Ltd
> dean at cognation.net
> +1-212-203-4357 Ph
> +1-917-207-3420 Mb
> +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: community-bounces at lists.openmoko.org
> [mailto:community-bounces at lists.openmoko.org] On Behalf Of David Ford
> Sent: Sunday, 21 January 2007 10:51 AM
> To: community at lists.openmoko.org
> Subject: Re: exchange email?
>
> Microsoft "push email" isn't push at all.  If you read the 
> specifications, it's just another method of polling a server to 
> determine if and what segments of new content is ready for transfer
>
> Just like ETRN, POP3, and IMAP, none of it requires human intervention 
> and all of it can poll for new content.  There is nothing new about it 
> logically.  It's simply Microsoft catching up with functionality and 
> marketing a new label to try and draw attention to "new fancy 
> technology" with exchange.
>
> POP3 and IMAP have had this functionality for a long time.  They just 
> don't use HTTP to handle it.
>
> :)
>
> -david
>
> Dean Collins wrote:
>   
>> Yep, having just bought a Cingular 8525 (or HTC Hermes or HTC Tytyn or
>>     
>
>   
>> any of the other names it comes out as) I cant tell you how cool 
>> Microsoft Push Email is.
>>
>>  
>>
>> I resisted for a long time upgrading from a treo 600 but once this 
>> feature was made available as a part of Exchange SP2 the new purchase 
>> was a done deal.
>>
>>  
>>
>> Way cooler than any pop3 download application I've used before.
>>
>>  
>>
>>  
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dean Collins
>> Cognation Pty Ltd
>> dean at cognation.net
>> <mailto:dean at cognation.net>+1-212-203-4357 Ph
>> +1-917-207-3420 Mb
>> +61-2-9016-5642 (Sydney in-dial).
>>
>>
>>     
>
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