requirements in writing an email/rss/usenet client?

[George Oliver]

hi,

I'd like to know what to consider when writing an email/rss/usenet
client. Apologies for such a broad question, but I've never attempted
a project of this scope and I'm currently feeling out the
requirements.

My target is something like a gui-based mutt (I use a Windows OS btw),
with influences from programs like Alpine (http://www.washington.edu/
alpine/) and Sup (http://sup.rubyforge.org/).

I currently use Thunderbird + Muttator, which is a nice setup; but, it
has some clunky parts, and I thought it might be simpler in the end to
start fresh than try to engage with what seems to be the massive-ness
of Thunderbird (of course, I may be disabused of this notion at some
point ;) ).


So far I've looked at the email and related modules in the standard
lib, found some related links from the list [1], and read a little
about the relevant protocols involved.

I'd appreciate hearing about any other examples, references, or
experiences of people who've written similar programs or related
libraries.


thanks, George


[1] Including references to:

* http://sourceforge.net/projects/usablemail/
* http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/0596000855/python2-CHP-11-SECT-4
* http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Email
* the pyne client
* http://chandler.osafoundation.org/