Some of you may remember I used AOL for a while (not
long).  I've since used two other ISPs down here in
Australia, and there may well be more in the future.

I rather quickly realised that webmail addresses gave
me much more flexibility with regard to moving
providers, and now that the storage capacity is
creeping up, I can actually keep a reasonable set of
messages.

I don't bother with storing BP messages - it is much
easier to hit the website and search the archives when
I need to find something.

If I want the information in a 'real' email program,
then I forward the email from the webmail address to
my work address.

This means that I can isolate much of the spam from
both my personal (read for friends and family etc) and
my work (for business-related stuff) addresses.

I currently have three @yahoo addresses running - one
I use for family and friends, one I use for BP stuff
... so that if I don't have any BP time available, I
don't go there, and one I use for special
correspondence with a particular friend.  I also
administer a @yahoo address for the australian working
party of docomomo.

It is a bit slow and painful at times, but it keeps
the spam away.  And it is easy to use Yahoogroups as
well. I seem to recall that AOL made using some of the
sites like Yahoogroups a little more difficult
(although I think it was possible).

Anyway, the great thing about using webmail is that
you don't have to worry about viruses unless you
really want to download an attached file.  Everything
else happens on Yahoo!'s servers, not mine!

There is the potential that they might go bust one
day, and I'll lose everything ... but hey, that
happens with ISP's as well.  Back up the important
bits!

Question of the day ... how do we conserve the
computer technology of each decade ... what if a
building contained a 1980s PC which was still
operating and being used ... would you attempt to
conserve it, or to replace it?

Cheers

david

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