Hi, Chris writes:
Oh wow! So how come traditional e-mail clients, like Outlook Express on a Windows PC, don't work through a proxy connection? I'm very curious now! Is it because of what I suggested earlier, because it's a PDA and therefore not a traditional PC? Thanks in advance!
Here's my explanation of how things work, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this. It's going to get rather long-winded, so stay with me on this one.
The use of a proxy server really has more to do with delivery of web content than it does e-mail delivery.
When you set up your Internet connection on a PC or a BrailleNote, you get to a point where you're asked whether or not you'll be using a proxy server. Ordinarily, any connections between you and a web site are point-to-point, in which your web browser requests data from the web site and the data is sent straight to you. On a campus or corporate network where you use a proxy server, the content isn't requested by you and your web browser, but rather by the proxy server, which, in effect, acts as a go-between. Content is delivered to you by proxy. If the proxy server decides that certain sites such as game sites, music sites, porn sites et cetera are off-limits because of potentially harmful content, you won't see that content even though you've requested it. End of story.
Now, here's where your confusion seems to be. When you configure an e-mail account on a BrailleNote or a PC, you're asked about your user data, i.e. username and password, and your inbound and outbound mail servers. You may be asked whether or not the outbound (SMTP) server requires authentication, meaning that before you can send mail out, the SMTP server needs to know that you are who you say you are, thus keeping Joe Schmoe down the street from using your SMTP server when he shouldn't be. In the case of SSL, the inbound (POP) and outbound (SMTP) servers send and receive data through secure ports, using encryption so that the connection can't be hacked and your e-mail intercepted by Joe Schmoe down the street. The issue of proxy servers doesn't really enter into it, except insofar as it concerns how you connect to the internet itself, i.e. through a dialup, DSL, cable or LAN connection on a campus or corporate network. If you look at your account settings in Outlook Express, you'll see a connection tab, which lets you specify how this is done. You tell Outlook Express that you'll be using a previously established connection configuration, be it dialup, DSL, cable or other network connection to get out to the Internet. The same is true for the BrailleNote, but with an important difference. Every time you ask to send or receive e-mail, you're asked which e-mail account to use and which connection configuration to use.
I hope this clears things up for you, albeit in a long-winded, somewhat geeky caffeine-induced manner.
Cheers! Tom ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
