The problem with IMAP

Switching to Thunderbird has, on the whole, been a good thing. However, one of the problems with IMAP is that, because your mail sits on the server, even once you've read it, you need to be able to access the server to see your mail. This morning I'm working from home (as I do most Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the moment) and I've been having problems getting through to my work network. I've just succeeded, on the third attempt. I don't usually have much of a problem. Occasionally it's very slow, depending on what people at work are doing on the network. But the logging on problem is caused by the dynamic IP address my ISP assigns me. The gateway machine for my work network only lets me in if I'm using addresses in a certain range. Usually my address is in that range, but this morning it obviously wasn't the first couple of times I dialled my Internet connection.

I'd like to go broadband, but at the moment I've got a free single-line ISDN connection, and I can't justify shelling out for what would be mainly an aesthetic improvement in my Internet experience.

But I must remember to copy my mail locally in Thunderbird, so that I can read it offline. There was a mail I got from someone at work that had an interesting article about why developers should use design specs, and I wanted to post it here. That'll have to wait. I need to do some work.