BlitzMail
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BlitzMail was an
History
BlitzMail was developed by Dartmouth in 1987 and went live in the summer of 1988.[1] The name BlitzMail started as a joke among its programmers, as it had to be developed quickly.[2]
In 1991, when Dartmouth required every student to own a computer, the server code was updated to allow multiple servers to accommodate the heavy demand for the system. In 1993, the server was rewritten to support mail folders. In 1994, the client and server software was released for use outside of Dartmouth. Some non-Dartmouth BlitzMail deployments include Valley.Net, an internet service provider in New England's Upper Valley region and, from 1991 to 2005, Reed College in Portland, Oregon.
The first versions of the client ran only on the
Dartmouth's Computing Services rolled out an updated BlitzMail client for
Recent releases of the client have experimental support for rendering (but not composing) HTML-based messages.
A project at
Dartmouth College
BlitzMail became the primary means of communication of all types on the Dartmouth College campus, between students, professors, and administrators. Hundreds of public terminals were located around campus, in libraries, dining halls, and academic buildings.[5] In the mid-1990s, Mac Classic public terminals were commonly referred to as "Blitzcheckers." Additionally, "blitz" became used as a noun and verb, used the same way "email" might be.[2][1] While BlitzMail is no longer used, students as of 2020 still use "blitz" instead of "email."[6]
Until the mid-2000s, largely due to poor cellular reception on campus, many students opted to use BlitzMail rather than cellular phones,[7] but this trend decreased as service improved on campus. In 2006, students began checking blitz on their cell phones.[8]
Client
The BlitzMail client was graphical, and ran on Windows and Macintosh computers. Several
(HTML files are viewed as attachments.) There is unofficial support to allow HTML-based email to be opened within the client normally.The program is portable for users. A user's mailbox, address book, and preferences are all stored on the server. Any user can log into any installation of the client and have full access to their data. After a user logs out, no data or personalization is stored on the local machine. This feature allows the use of the many public terminals.
BlitzMail also acted as a pseudo-instant messaging client.[2] Messages were processed by the server and delivered to the recipient almost immediately.
The program was integrated with the Dartmouth Name Directory (DND), allowing users to message any recipient with a Dartmouth email address by searching for their name.[2]
Technical specifications
BlitzMail speaks its own protocol between client and server, meaning that only the BlitzMail client can utilize the full feature-set of the server.
Messages entering and leaving the BlitzMail domain are handled via Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). As of 2004[update], patches were available that allowed clients to connect to a BlitzMail server via POP3 and IMAP (with SSL.) The client communicates to the server on TCP ports 2151 and 1119 and the notification service runs on UDP port 2154.
In 2002,
The BlitzMail and DND servers run on DEC
The BlitzMail servers have run on a variety of hardware at Dartmouth. In the early 1990s, the mail and DND servers ran on 25 MHz NeXT cubes named after Santa Claus' reindeer. At the time, hundreds of sessions could be handled on each machine. Later, the servers were migrated to DEC 3000 AXP Model 300s.
A Python library implementation called PyBlitz was released in 2006 by Michael Fromberger.
The BlitzMail client and server software were available under an
References
- ^ ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ^ "TheDartmouth.com | College to release new Blitz for Macs". Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
- ^ "BlitzMail for OS X". Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
- ^ "Have Your People Blitz My People". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. November 1994. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ^ Beak, Arielle (11 September 2020). "The Words that Bind Us: Dartmouth Lingo". The Dartmouth. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ^ "TheDartmouth.com | BlitzMail survives tough technological competition". September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
- ^ "TheDartmouth.com | 'Flurrymail' allows quick BlitzMail access on phones". September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
External links
- Wireless Networking at Dartmouth College
- WebBlitz - A Web-Based BlitzMail client
- Campbell, Stephen (1994). "Email for Everyone: Making It Work in Real Life" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
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(help) - The BlitzMail Protocol