[VM] Announcement: VM 8.2.0b (beta-testing) release

[Konrad Hinsen]

Uday Reddy writes:

 > I managed to take some time off during the Christmas break to finish up the
 > work leading up to the 8.2.0 version.  I am doing a "beta-testing" release
 > because there have been some significant changes since the last
 > "alpha-testing" release.  Please download it from the Launchpad web site:
 > 
 >   http://launchpad.net/vm

It works fine for me (Carbon-Emacs 24.0.92.1 under MacOS X 10.6).

 > 1. VM can now use the built-in SSL capability of Emacs, for talking to
 > POP/IMAP servers, e.g., gmail.  Set the variable `vm-stunnel-program' to nil
 > to get this feature.  The upcoming Gnu Emacs 24 has built-in SSL.  Once you

This works fine and is a welcome relief. Installing historical versions of
stunnel everywhere is no fun.

 > 3. `vm-list-imap-folders' vastly improved.  There are also other functions
 > for working with IMAP servers listed in the manual.

The new vm-list-imap-folders is fine for modest-sized accounts. On my
main account with > 100 mailboxes, it takes forever. I guess there
isn't much to do about this, since IMAP implemented in Emacs Lisp is
bound to be slow.

 > 5. Setting the variable `vm-mail-use-sender-address' to `t' allows VM to
 > pick up the sender of the current message as the recipient of a new message
 > composition.  (Many people use `reply' to get this functionality, which is
 > not a right thing to do, as I have mentioned previously in the message
 > "Don't use the mailbox as an address book".  Now, you _can_ use it as an
 > address book.)

Sounds good, I have to try this!

 > Over 200 bug reports have been targeted and fixed for the 8.2.0 release.  I
 > think we are slowly catching up all the lost time, and re-establishing VM as
 > the best mail reader there is.

It's on the right track!

Thanks for all the good work,
  Konrad.