Not only do I get a lot of email every day, I have a lot of email going back many years. I have an IMAP folder for each client of edgeofmyseat.com and some of those folders have now got so big the only mail client that seems able to cope with them is KMail on KDE, Mail.app on OS X gave up some time ago. This is a problem as I need to be able to get into that mail, but I don’t want to download it all from IMAP as I like to be able to get at it from numerous locations.

My other problem with archiving my mail is that I have a curious memory for where things are. My email structure is a bit like my bookcase. If I’m writing something and need a quote from a book I will know exactly where on the bookcase the book is, and where in the book the line of text I need is. This works just fine until someone moves a book and I start to wonder if I’m going insane! Email is the same. If a client phones up and asks me about some project that happened 2 years ago, I know where in my folder structure and how many messages into the mailbox that email will be … I can see it. I’m afraid that moving the messages could throw my peculiar mental systems into disarray.

However I need to do something about the situation, as it has got to the point where I can’t open some of these mailboxes. Knowing the location of individual messages within them isn’t helpful if I can’t view the things. Also I would like to be able to give Drew access to the back history of edgeofmyseat.com clients prior to his joining the company last year, and much of that is tied up in my mail.

I can’t be the only person who has found themselves with this problem, so I ask the lazyweb – what should I do with all this email? My requirements are:

• To be able to create an archive of the email in a format that still resembles the email structure so I can find things as I do now
• The archive needs to be stored centrally on a server so I can get to it wherever I happen to be working
• I would like Drew to be able to read and search this archive without needing to download it all
• I don’t want a single platform solution, I work on a Mac at home and Linux in the office

First impressions are good – it feels fast, applications launch very quickly and Mail.app is as nice as Kmail which I use at work. I have to have a mail client that I am happy with, email issues make me grumpy. Other than that I’m still just poking around at the moment, playing with my new toy. I’ve ordered Office so once that arrives I might actually be able to get down and do some real work.

The office move encouraged a decision that I have been wanting to make for a while – to go entirely to Linux for my business desktop machines. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been using Linux on the desktop for years, but never quite made a complete switch, and a lot of that was because my business and personal computing needs were linked. As a writer I need Microsoft Word for compatibility. In my business however, I mainly edit text files all day, and the type of office documents I need to edit are fairly basic and OpenOffice.org copes with them just fine.

I figured I could always switch back if it went horribly wrong so not only did I move offices on February 14th … I switched operating systems. We are now running with a Linux domain controller doing all the network logins using Samba (replacing the absolute nightmare that is Active Directory) and also handling DNS and Linux + KDE on the desktop, and it’s all gone incredibly well.

Back at home my Windows desktop looks horribly old fashioned and clunky after working all day on the loveliness that is KDE, but it needed replacing anyway, so for my writing and my general pootering around at home … I’m going to be getting me a Mac Mini. Thanks for all the advice in my previous thread, the office move has removed some of my issues anyway – I’m dealing with the QuickBooks issue and the need for Windows for browser testing by using my laptop which covers me if I need that at home and at work.

I decided to install Mandrake on my Linux desktop, I have run Debian for years, but was rather tempted by the more desktop designed distros. After downloading 5 CD’s (slowly) I discovered that the CD-ROM drive in the Linux desktop was, in fact, broken. So in went another CD drive. Mandrake installed, Drew and I ooohed at the point and click installer, KDE launched and promptly crashed. I managed to get it running, Konqueror crashed then KDE went down taking the box with it … I battled with this, along with a stinking cold, for days. I installed drivers, checked the memory, searched Google … and yet it still crashed.

In the middle of this the hard disk in my development server packed up, with the most terrible grinding noise – a good reminder to keep those backups up to date, I’ve never had one die before and when they do it can be totally without warning. So I now have another Linux box to reinstall.

Today I gave up on Mandrake, I reinstalled Debian. It works. As I was celebrating with a glass of wine and chatting online, the monitor packed up … I’m going to go drink the rest of the bottle.

The main reason that I haven’t pulled out my credit card already is that at the moment I currently work across two desktops. On my desk in front of me are two screens – one of which is my Linux desktop (Debian/KDE) the other is my Windows desktop. I’ve never managed to switch completely to Linux due to needing various applications for work. I know there are perfectly good replacements – and I’ve been using Linux on the desktop for 5 years – however for compatibility I need to be able to open things in Freehand or Photoshop and other applications and I write about Dreamweaver, so until these can run under Linux I’m going to need another OS. Mac OS X could be that OS instead of Windows but my main fear is that all I am going to do is end up with yet another desktop OS that I am working in, making my daily work spread over three operating systems thus making it even harder to leave the office – at the moment I achieve some portability with a laptop installed with XP, VMWare and Debian running as a virtual machine.

I’m going to need a Windows box for the foreseeable future – I need to test work on Windows. The other application which is non-negotiable and I already know there is no OS X UK version is Quickbooks, I need Quickbooks. I can live with having my Windows box on a KVM switch and switching to it to write invoices or check sites. I know that I can get OS X versions of Macromedia products, MS Office and Adobe software but what about the other applications I use on Windows? I believe there is a version of Eclipse for OS X – it’s a bit slow on Windows, does it work well on the Mac? What about FTP, I use WS-FTP on Windows; and CSS editing – to replace Topstyle.

When I’m writing I currently use SnagIt for taking screenshots – it’s great as I can set it up to take the captures and save them as the correct resolution so I don’t need to go fiddle with them in a graphics application afterwards, what can I use to replace this if I move to OS X?

If I have any spare time I research my family history, I use two applications on Windows “Family Tree Maker” and “Family Historian”, the latter allows me to store records properly along with their sources and also to query the records – the first draws pretty charts which please the relatives, any suggestions for OS X products?

The second reason I hesitate to move to OS X, and one that will probably see me flambéed by Mac users, is that I dislike the way it looks. How much can you customise the interface? Can I stop things bouncing and zooming? If you are familiar with Windows classic themes think about the Rainy Day theme, that’s what I like my desktop to look like … I’m not really into ‘pretty’ where computers are concerned. That said, the way it looks is not particularly high priority, the most important thing is that it more or less replaces my Windows desktop, if I can hack at the interface that’s a bonus.

So Mac users, convince me that I should switch, I don’t like Windows and am fully aware of its problems – I’d be a fulltime Linux user if I could – so you don’t need to tell me why Windows is lousy, I know! I just need to be sure that I can do this relatively quickly and easily, and that the applications are out there that will enable to me to switch, as otherwise I will end up with the three desktop operating systems problem already described, and this would make me more grumpy than the minor issue of things bouncing in the dock.

It was then I realised that plugged into the USB hub in the monitor was my Sharp Zaurus docking station, and the mystery was solved. Zaurus plugged into the monitor hub and turned on, computer reboots when monitor turned off. Zaurus either not plugged in or turned off, everything is fine. I still don’t understand why this should have been happening, however I’m glad to have found the cause – the Zaurus is now plugged back into the USB on the computer and I can turn my monitor off without killing my machine.

Word hangs for a couple of seconds every few minutes, Eudora takes an age to process mail, I’m starting to thnk that I’m going to have to go back to Win2K just to get some work done. Any ideas on what might be up with the thing gratefully accepted …