On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:44:19 -0600, Stan Hoeppner <stan@hardwarefreak.com> wrote:
I like Horde (extendability) and Roundcube (speed), and would recommend using imapproxy for either webmail system. It helps speed things up.
I've looked a little at both now and am still reading. One thing I don't like is that I'm seeing requirements a SQL server. That adds unnecessary complexity to the system and I'd rather avoid it if possible. IIRC, one of the reasons I chose Squirrelmail a few years ago was that it's requirements were pretty simple, and that it didn't require a database backend for anything.
-- Stan
Stan,
If this is more than a hobby system, then you'll need to account for address books and personal settings for your users - at the least. That means some sort of backend database. Horde/IMP used to be the kick-ass OSS kid on the block, but they seem to have lost their way the last couple years by trying to accommodate too many insignificant feature requests and stubbornly shying aware from a full fledged "enterprise" solution. The app has become bloated, it's GUI half-assed, and usability is less than intuitive for end users (IMHO of course). Roundcube on the other hand, started out anorexic. But with the recent release of 0.3 they introduced an extensible plugin framework to allow you to customize as little or as much as you like. After a recent migration from IMP to Roundcube, my thousands of [non-power] users agree, it's much easier to use than Horde/IMP and gets the job done. It's also not as MySQL intensive as Horde, though yes, it requires a DB backend.
Personally - and I know this may get me killed - I never liked Squirrelmail. I would rather have used Pine. I used Horde/IMP as a webmail client for nearly a decade [has it been that long?!] until I found Roundcube.
-Ken Price