Don’t call it a come back

A new e-mail client based on the ancient (but excellent) e-mail client, Pine, has been released. I have an e-mail account that’s hosted on a Unix server and I use Pine to read that mail. It’s far and away my favorite e-mail client.

The computing and networking group at the University of Washington has released Alpine, an open-source e-mail client for the desktop and the web. It’s based on Pine, the ancient but rock solid text-based e-mail client also developed at UW.

You may remember Pine from your school’s computer lab, your dad’s old Windows 3.1 box or (if you’re like Epicenter’s Dylan Tweney) from when you last checked your mail. Though it’s been the choice of Unix power users for almost two decades, Pine is also remarkably easy to use and simple enough for just about anyone to pick up.

Part of my love has to do with the nature of having an account hosted on a remote server — I can get to it from anywhere, and I can keep it there. Using a pop mail server with the e-mail client on my desktop computer means that, once I’ve downloaded it, I’m going to have trouble if I want the mail when I’m at a different computer. The other part of my love is just the simplicity and speed of Pine. It’s all keyboard based, so I don’t have to reach for my mouse in the middle of typing something.