I think a good idea for offline readers would be to build ontop of currently implemented protocols. One protocol worth mentioning is IMAP2. Right now IMAP2 usually runs over TCP but there is no reason why it couldn't run over a serial channel instead (SIMAP :) It allows for remote access to mailboxes from a mail server, and also remote access to builitin-board messages (ie. USENET). There are several packages in development or already in use that use IMAP. PINE for unix's and soon to be available for DOS machines supports IMAP access. PINE also supports MIME and could be extended nicely to handle automatic PGP encryption/decryption of mail (or en/de- cryption with other crypto-systems). Macintosh already has a mailer supporting IMAP, the name eludes me at the moment. The mailers in existence are written for TCP and would have to be modified for use over the serial line, perhaps with a pseudo-packet driver in the dos case. I think this type of solution would be much cheaper and much more feature filled than starting from scratch. Tim N.