Sep 27, 2001 11:38 AM
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I hate the primitive e-mails, which Outlook Express and other such e-mail clients can fabricate. I always felt why can’t I just add a couple of lines here and there and make my e-mails stand out such that the guy (or gal) who gets my mail is inclined to say “WOW”. Well, sometimes, your prayers are actually answered by God (or program developers, for that reason).
One day as I was browsing through Cnet.com’s software archives, I came across this e-mail client, which boasted that e-mail had finally evolved. Now, how could I not try out this software? I spent close to an hour downloading the stuff. (Downloading a file close to 4 MB in India in an hour is an achievement in itself!!). Hoping for the best, I began to check out IncrediMail. So, here’s a roundup of its features - Interface – Hands down, the interface is cool. If Microsoft’s gotta learn something from the developers of IncrediMail, it’s how to make stuff look sensational. Straight lines are definitely out!! You gotta have curves and all such swanky stuff.
The main window in this e-mail client is neatly divided into four, one for the folders (Inbox, Outbox and all), another for the contents of the selected folder. The 3rd and 4th are collapsible windows for viewing the contents of the selected message and key contacts. 5 stars for the interface Standard Features - IncrediMail has all that Outlook Express and all other e-mail clients can boast of – Address Book, Creating Folders (thereby organize messages the way you want) Rules and Filters, Blocking messages, Identities, Spelling check and all. Special Features – Here’s where IncrediMail shines (and shines bright, indeed!!) and Outlook Express seems antiquated.
Notifier – Do you ever miss your dog fetching the mail for you?? If so, worry no more. In IncrediMail you can choose your very own Notifier ranging from a dog to a duck to a butler to a superhero!! What’s more, you can download more from the net.
3-D Animation – Every card is accompanied by loads of animations, which make even mundane activities like opening, sending, deleting mail loads of fun. While sending a mail, you could just enjoy the mail fold itself into a plane and fly away.
Handwritten Signatures – What better way of adding a personal touch to your mails than adding your signature.
Alas! Outlook Express and several other conventional e-mail clients don’t offer the option of adding a handwritten and textual signature. Well, IncrediMail does. You could create a signature using the mouse, accompany it with a little text and voila, all done. Pretty cool!!
E-Cards – It’s your buddy’s birthday. What do you do? Send him an e-card, of course. But the process of going to a website, viewing and choosing from over 100’s of cards would definitely be monotonous and heavy on the pocket as well. No sweat. Here’s the cooler and better way – an IncrediMail e-card. What is it? Well, IncrediMail comes with a few default e-cards for several occasions (with many more available for downloads on their site) from which you could choose a card for your buddy. Cheers for IncrediMail!!
Letters, Sounds, Animated Images, etc - Letters are a collection of cool backgrounds, each with it’s own unique look, fell, fonts, settings and all. With IncrediMail letters no longer need be drab with only written word. Add a whole new dimension to your e-mails by adding colorful noises and tunes. Often a visual conveys more than a whole paragraph. So how about just sending a stomping bull to your pal, if you’re hot with him/her. That’s exactly what animated images allow you to do. Ya, Ya, you can download more of all these from IncrediMail’s site.
Recording your voice – Yup, you read that right. IncrediMail allows you to record your voice in WAV format and send it as an attachment with your e-mails. Need I say more? IncrediMail is completely customizable.
The more recent versions of IncrediMail come bundled with Letter Creator which enables you to design and custom make your own letters and all. Pretty good utility that adds to a feature rich software. The bundle of IncrediMail and Letter Creator costs around 50$ (roughly Rs. 2000) after a discount of 20$ at its site. The others like me could stick to the freeware (adware) version of IncrediMail, as the freeware version doesn’t lack any features that are available in the registered version So what’s the downside to IncrediMail? Well, It eats up quite an amount of system resources. It’s adware – it’s free but comes at the cost of displaying loads of ads. These ads could be quite annoying. Moreover, the suspicion regarding all these adware as to whether they are used to track user activities and thereby determining user preferences would mean that not many people would actually prefer using this software at the cost of being “ watched ”.
The bottomline? Well, once you use IncrediMail, you’d never revert to Outlook Express or any other of its clan. What are you waiting for?? Download it and e-mailing your buddies and relatives would be an all-new experience. Go ahead; indulge in some fun by experiencing the new way of mailing.
