Forte Agent Newsreader

What works

• Installs fine using default installer.
• No problems noted with a decent amount of email (3.9GB).
• Sending and receiving email works.
• Email search works (though it's even slower than on Windows...)
• Email filtering works.
• Saving email attachments works.

You can use data files from Windows partition directly; I configured Wine to have a drive that maps to my Bootcamp volume, then pointed agent at the INI file I use on Windows. So I have the same configuration and email (etc.) on Windows and Mac OS X, just like I always wanted.

What does not

• Images in HTML mails usually (but not always) appear corrupted. The data is actually fine, though, as you can see by saving the file to disk. (Agent often seems to have problems with images in Windows too, but the problem shows itself as partial images -- not sure if this is the same issue.)
• When entering an email address, a popup window appears with potential contacts from your address book. Unlike its native Windows equivalent, the popup steals the focus and obscures the address line; if you want to enter an address that's not in your address book, you have to click on the composition window before you can continue typing.
• When editing mail filtering rules, you have to use the mouse to select text in the little text box. Using Shift+cursor keys deletes everything after the cursor, and inserts a + or = char.
• When saving attachments, the file selector will let you visit anywhere in the local filing system, but if you select a folder outside the Wine DOS device hierarchy Agent will save the file in its current working folder instead.
• UI is generally a bit flickery.

Workarounds

What was not tested

• Newsgroup functionality

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

I'm using the MacPorts edition of wine. Despite the annoyances, Agent is quite usable, and I for one find them only minor compared to the hassles of changing email program. I feel the UI problems are enough to stop it getting a Gold, as the UI is fairly important for email. The underlying functionality has so far seemed trouble-free, though.