Re: list of user-visible goals

could you try to restate this more in terms of user-visible goals 
rather than specific technologies?

in particular, what do you mean by "NON-SOCKET access" and what does 
this have to do with things that are visible to the user?  I have no 
idea what you mean by this - your use of the word "socket" doesn't seem 
to correspond to any of the users of that term of which I'm familiar.

> What are we designing here?  A new BBS system?   Sounds much like it!
>
> Anyway.........  very good.
>
> Since we are designing a new BBS-like mail system,  I see a few more.
>
> Accessibility,  Integration
>
> o Users want to roam (re-pickup mail from different client/machines) 
> i.e.,
> web vs pop3. Web control means server control of mail pointers,  pop3 
> means
> user control of mail pointers.
>
> o User want off-line mail access capabilities.  Automatic 
> downloads/uploads
> of mail,  i.e.,   QWK, OPX, BW.
>
> Accessibility,  Integration,  Security,   Privacy
>
> o Users want to do NON-SOCKET access, dialup directly.  Note:  Some 
> Federal
> security mandates may require it.