Microsoft Outlook Express Outlook Express vs. Netscape Messenger Forrest Stroud
Outlook Express vs. Netscape Messenger
From extensive address book capabilities to advanced mail filtering to support for multiple mail accounts, Outlook Express stands far above its closest competitor, Netscape Communicator's Messenger/Collabra mail and news client.
While Collabra does offer support for multiple news accounts, it's Messenger's lack of support for multiple mail accounts that really hinders the client's use in today's environment where most users have at least two or three mail accounts. Likewise, Outlook Express' mail filtering capabilities, while not quite as advanced as Outlook 98's, are more than powerful enough to put those of Netscape Messenger to shame.
The Message Rules filtering system in Outlook Express not only allows you to move, copy, delete, and mark as read incoming messages, it also allows you to send automatic replies, highlight messages with specific colors, delete messages from the remote server (without having to download them first), and automatically re-route or forward messages to other users. And in addition to supporting multiple conditions (as does Messenger), Outlook Express goes a step farther by giving users the ability to set up filters with multiple actions.
Outlook Express also allows you to set up filters only for specific accounts and mail boxes. However, Outlook Express does lack Messenger's filter log option, and both filtering systems lack the ability to use boolean operators other than 'And' when creating filters with multiple conditions.
