The web site has a couple of new pages:

• Online help (see help & contact page)
• License agreement page (see bottom links)
• Privacy statement page

What a funny coincidence isn't it? Here is bug-fixed update to version released 2 days ago.

New features

• Slightly improved URL/email detection in plain text messages

Bug fixes

• Message is now correctly marked as read (only when it was actually opened)
• Clicking email links opens internal editor instead of default email client
• Clicking URLs opens default web browser (if other than Internet Explorer)
• Fixed code that could potentially crash when displaying a message
• Fixed bug in delete messages that could leave some messages undeleted

This version is large OE Classic improvement - therefore larger version increase than usual. It also took more time to develop.

You are advised to upgrade to this version as soon as possible due to disk database changes (which stores all emails and other settings).

IMPORTANT: To correctly upgrade database you must close OE Classic (if it is running) before starting installation! Installation now auto-detects running program and warns you, but this only works for current (and future) versions. If however, you are doing new installation then you may ignore this info.

There are database changes but you don't have to worry about them much as OE Classic provides built-in automatic database upgrade tool compatible with a couple of older versions. This version is still backward compatible with earliest release (1.0a1) but not for much longer (therefore upgrade!).

Please read earlier news item to familiarize yourself with the latest changes in more detail.

Here is a brief list of improvements in this upgrade. Full list would be much longer.

New features

• No longer a beta
• Core functions that operate on disk database(*) responsible for reading, writing, copying, moving and deleting messages, folders and identities are now much faster and much more reliable
• Disk operations are secured by transactions - even if program or system crashes in the middle of write operation, database integrity is preserved
• Internal folder compact and fragmentation calculation support
• Internal identity support
• New and more stable format of database (messages, settings, address book)
• Refined and informative error messages in case of disk operation errors
• Implemented single application instance
• Copy messages support in GUI
• Folder bar is now functional
• Account passwords are now saved in encrypted form
• Simplified installer with automatic upgrade of database
• Due to incompatibility with new identities feature older database formats will be dropped in near future

Bug fixes

• Fixed window centering in dual monitor setup

(*) "Disk database" means - a set of files on your disk that store all emails, accounts and other settings.

Download basic version on download page. Pro version users can download update on registered user page.

If you still use older version you should upgrade it to the current one (1.01) as new releases may not support older email database format. This will upgrade stored messages and ensure smooth transition to the next version which is scheduled to be released soon.

Email message storage is the core of OE Classic and depending on how your messages are stored and organized affects the speed, upgrade ability and protection of database against corruption. Therefore, the whole next release is dedicated to message storage alone. It is major improvement to the program as whole user interface depends on underlying disk operations.

Here are some of the improvements that are coming:

• Identities support - Identities are like accounts - they hold complete program settings, messages and contacts. When you create a new identity, it is like you installed the program from scratch with all the settings reset to initial state. You may also share contacts among identities. Identities are protected with password and you can use them to easily separate tasks you do with the program - for example, you may separate work email from home email, you may create different profiles for different users, etc.
• All disk operations are faster - Much faster copying/moving messages from folder to folder (copy alone isn't even supported in current version), compacting folders (based on fragmentation), memory cache for frequently accessed disk files, etc.
• Transaction based saves - Transactions protect saves by storing changes that are about to be done to the folder system. If anything happens while messages (or other data) are saved or moved around, which even includes program crashing or powering off the system in the middle of write-operation, the database integrity will be kept. On the very next start, OE Classic will figure out what was messed up and restore all folders to last good state by cleaning up corrupted parts. And even if the corruption occurs, program still has mechanisms to restore database to working condition.
• Backups - In addition to transactions, messages will also be automatically backed up ensuring even more security and redundancy.
• (Almost) No limitations - Outlook Express had a limit of 2 gigabytes per folder. Some users had issues with that because when you reached this limit you could corrupt folders easily. Sure, we have a limit too, but it is measured in exabytes (that's millions of terabytes). With currently largest consumer disks of about 3 terabytes and the way how email and newsgroups are digested, this is no limit to worry about for a number of decades.

If you expect secure storage of your important messages, OE Classic most certainly does it!

Bug fixes

• International characters in headers (subject, from...) are correctly decoded

Yes, only single bug fix but the one that we've been trying to solve for months. OE Classic no longer has issues with ìñtërñåtîøñäl çháràctérs in message headers (fields like "subject", "from", "to" and others). And some minor improvements in installation program.

New features

• Two versions - basic (limited) and pro (unlimited) available for purchase
• Messages are now deleted from server after successful download
• Expiration date removed
• Added mini-tabs below the message view for source viewing
• Welcome message when Inbox is empty

Bug fixes

• Message list doesn't count attachments twice anymore

IMPORTANT: Starting with this version OE Classic will delete emails from server (after it successfully downloads them). If you still want to use it in "test mode", then you should set the option Leave a copy of messages on server in your account properties.

This version is now available for purchase at promo price. Use the opportunity to get it while it is only $19.95 because when the newsreader is implemented the price will certainly go up. The price includes updates!

New features

• Address book - Add, modify or delete contact email and other info
• Flag and watch columns are now functional
• Add files as attachment in message edit
• Auto-complete contact in message edit with drop-down selection
• Auto-recognition of male/female contact if unspecified manually

IMPORTANT: This is final Alpha version. Starting with next version OE Classic will delete emails from server (after it successfully downloads them). If you still want to use it in "test mode", then you should set the option Leave a copy of messages on server in your account properties. New version (1.0 Beta) will be split into limited free version and unlimited full version available for ordering at promotional price.

Following few releases will shift focus from new features to fixing, speeding up and extensive testing of built-in features. After that is done, we'll continue adding new options like Newsreader, RSS, Calendar etc.

New features

• Create, rename and delete user folders
• Folders can be moved around using mouse drag&drop
• Improved folder tree display (faster and better drag&drop support)
• Move message to folder from popup and main menu
• Outlook Express import updated to use folders as well

Bug fixes

• Embedded email images are now displayed properly

After a short break due to other projects we were busy with, we're back on track with Alpha 5 version. Beta/release version is also very near.

New features

• URLs and email addresses are converted to links in plain text messages
• Better display of plain text message bodies and fixed charset issues
• Better charset detection in HTML message body for non-English languages

Bug fixes

• Attachment images are now visible in message display
• HTML entities are interpreted as text instead of HTML in plain text messages

New features

• Message sorting is now much faster and more precise - it will also make program start faster
• Message sorting by Windows locale (affects non-English languages)
• Last message in folder is auto-selected on program startup and when switching folders
• Some configuration items (toolbars) in INI file have new names
• Main list-view columns positions and widths are now saved in configuration
• Stored email database will be upgraded to Alpha 4 format to support new features in this version

Bug fixes

• List-view sort direction triangle disappeared when column was double clicked
• Some code refactoring to improve program stability

This version can upgrade your stored email database to Alpha 4 format from earlier versions - Alpha 1 to Alpha 3. Future versions will only support Alpha 4 format (and later) and when first stable version is released, it will only offer upgrade from the latest Alpha/Beta version available.

So - to keep your emails downloaded with these early alpha releases you only have to upgrade each version and not to skip them. Database format in stable releases will be less prone to changes and you will be able to upgrade at your own pace.