Para-Mail

Infobox Software
name = Para-Mail
logo =


caption = Para Mail 2.16 under DOS
developer = Kris Land (Designer), Larry West (Chief Architect), Craig Arnush (Software Engineer)
latest_release_version = 2.16
latest_release_date = July 16, 1989
latest_preview_version =
latest_preview_date =
operating_system = DOS
genre = E-mail client
license = Sold
website =

Para Mail was a, proprietary, electronic mail client that was developed and maintained by Kris Land and his team. It was originally released in 1985 for MS-DOS, but was subsequently ported to Microsoft Windows. A version for Apple Macintosh also used to be available.

On January 3, 1990, it was announced that Paradox Development of Para-Mail was acquired by Office Automation Systems later known as OCTuS, Inc.

Features

Para Mail is suitable for single or multiple users on stand-alone computers or on local area networks. Para mail is extremely feature-rich and powerful, yet remains small and fast. Some commentators have described it as convoluted and cumbersome to configure whereas others value Para-Mail for the features it offers. A key feature of Para-Mai is that it supports image scanners, faxes, optical character recognition and voice mail all through one common user interface.

The original version worked with Novell NetWare networks and its Novell's Message Handling System (MHS) mail system; a cut-down MHS-only version called PM-Remote was bundled with NetWare. Early versions used an idiosyncratic format for mail folders; later versions offer the standard Unix mailbox format as an alternative to the historical Para-Mail format.

Para-Mail supported the x.400, x.500 protocols as well as Novell's MHS. The current version had added support for filtering of spam with header and body checking for key phrases (already before download). Pegasus Mail pioneered many features now taken for granted with other email clients, such as filtering and simultaneous access to multiple MHS and x.400 accounts, and continues to out-perform many other email clients.

From being the de-facto standard email clientFact|date=April 2007 on Novell NetWare networks, Para-Mail, along with Eudora and others suffered a similar fate to Netscape Navigator when Internet Explorer version 3.0 bundled Microsoft Internet Mail and News version 1.0 free-of-charge within Windows 95.