| Linspire offers free email and file storage services |
Nov. 15, 2006
First, there was Freespire; then, free CNR. Now, here comes FreeLinuxEmail, a free email and file storage system from Linspire Inc. It's not much of a name, and not a completely accurate one, either.
The system was developed by Messaging Engine of Melbourne, Australia. It offers anywhere-access for Linspire 5-0 and Freespire 1.0 users. FreeLinuxEmail boasts free email and file storage, and a swift web interface. It supports SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) for sending email and WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) for mobile phone access.
Additionally, the service provides SMTP services for users who wish to take advantage of that.
But, Freespire and Linspire users don't get it all for free. The 100 percent free FreeLinuxEmail only offers 10 megabytes of storage space. You don't get any serious amount of file storage until you open your wallet. Two upgrades with yearly maintenance costs offer respectively greater features.
For $29.95, users receive a gigabyte each of email and file storage. Advanced spam and virus protection are among other paid features. That's no bad deal. For $99.95, you can quintuple your storage space -- a hefty price; but then, 10 gigs is a whole lotta space! Curiously, the company decided to toss POP (Post Office Protocol) support in with the paid plans, but not the main model.
The file storage can be accessed by ftp and other network protocols. The service's web interface will allow drag-and-drop file management. The email service can be used from any modern email client. Users will be given a choice of several @domainname options, such as @freelinuxemail.com, @tryoutlinux.com, and @freespire.org.
Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony says that "FreeLinuxEmail is significant in that it is a full-featured IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol.) service, not POP or only web-based, like most free email offerings." IMAP's universality and impressive server-side functionality make it a logical choice for the product.
Naturally, the system is fully integrated into the email client shared by Freespire and Linspire, which, in turn, is based on Mozilla's Thunderbird. The new offering also includes a "push email" function. This feature provides instant updates at all times-especially useful for cell phones and PDAs.
As for safety, CEO Jeremy Howard of Messaging Engine stated, "For every part of our core infrastructure, FreeLinuxEmail relies heavily on the security and reliability of open-source software." The product provides customizable spam service that analyzes messages, and scans the server for viruses.
"Desktop Linux users tend to be a power-hungry lot," Carmony added. Power players, will surely rejoice in freely accessing vast amounts of stored data from any computer with Internet access, he added.
Linspire hinted at more free services soon to come.
-- Rachel Schmutter
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