email accounts, mail programs, and The Stamp

Hi Adam --

Hope you're well.  I started teaching at TheUni this semester and am forwarding my .edu mail to my .com account.  I'm just wondering if I need to set up my Uni email in my email program.  It does forward, but I don't have a separate icon for TheUni email account.  Part of the problem is I don't know if it's a POP server, etc, and couldn't seem to determine that.  What is the advantage of having the separate icon/account?

Thanks,

Jane

adam@computersWTF
to Jane

Hi Jane-

It's purely a personal preference. Think of the Mac Mail program (aka The Stamp or technical term: mail client) as an old mail room in a big office building- sorting, filing and ultimately providing you with your mail as you like it. If you want to have a separate "box" for each of your accounts, each with it's own inbox, sent folder, and so on, then Mac Mail can do that. If you want to have TheUni forward their mail to another account and come in that way, you can obviously do that too as that is your current setup. Each computer has a different mail client (or more than one, like Thunderbird, Outlook, etc), as do mobile devices and tablets. Conversely, web-based email can be logged into remotely from any device or computer with Internet access. Most email accounts can be accessed either way, although some companies/orgs choose to go with one or the other.

Best,

Adam