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.