Message Handling System (MHS) is an important early email protocol developed by Action Technologies, Inc. (ATI) in 1986.

Novell Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

licensed it in 1988 then later bought it.

Email clients

A wide variety of email clients used MHS, including: * Para-Mail - Paradox Development introduced version 2.0 along with Novell at Comdex 1986. * DaVinci Email - The first Microsoft Windows-based email client used MHS natively. *

Pegasus Mail Pegasus Mail is a proprietary email client for Microsoft Windows. It was originally released in 1990 on NetWare networks with MS-DOS and later Apple Macintosh clients, before being ported to Windows which is now the only platform actively support ...

- A free mail client, this used MHS its native protocol. * ExpressIT! and ExpressIT! 2000 - Infinite Technologies' MHS compliant email clients. * FirstMail - A cut-down version of

, bundled with some versions of

NetWare NetWare is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol. The final update release was ver ...

. * Futurus TEAM - Early groupware package offering an MHS compliant email client. * MacAccess - An Apple Macintosh MHS-based email client.

Role as a gateway

MHS was a very 'open' system, and this, with Novell's encouragement, made it popular in the early 1990s as a 'glue' between not only the proprietary email systems of the day such as PROFS, SNADS, MCI,

3+Mail 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, cc:Mail, Para-Mail and

Microsoft Mail Microsoft Mail (or MS Mail or MSM) was the name given to several early Microsoft e-mail products for local area networks, primarily two architectures: one for Macintosh networks, and one for PC architecture-based LANs. All were eventually replac ...

, but also the competing standards-based

SMTP The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typi ...

and X.400. However, by 1996 it was very clear that SMTP over the Internet would take over this role.

Work-alike products

A compatible family of products from Infinite Technologies (now Captaris) and marketed under the name Connect2 were also very widely used as part of MHS-based email networks.

Decline

Novell became increasingly less supportive after their 1994 purchase of

WordPerfect WordPerfect (WP) is a word processing application, now owned by Alludo, with a long history on multiple personal computer platforms. At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the market leader of word processors, disp ...

as they worked to transform

WordPerfect Office WordPerfect (WP) is a word processing application, now owned by Alludo, with a long history on multiple personal computer platforms. At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the market leader of word processors, disp ...

into

GroupWise GroupWise is a messaging and collaboration platform from OpenText that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The GroupWise platform consists of desktop client software, which is ...

. At about the same time, confidence in the future of X.400 collapsed and

email across the public

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

became the compelling choice for mail between unrelated organisations, replacing MHS's former "glue" role.

Cessation

In order to facilitate asynchronous communication, decouple components, and create robust distributed systems, message handling systems are essential. Through the provision of fundamental messaging features and integration capabilities, these systems enable enterprises to create reliable, scalable, and effective applications that satisfy the requirements of contemporary distributed computing settings.{{cite web , url=https://supermachines.io/best-ai-email-generators-2024/ , title=Best AI Email Generators , date=19 March 2024

References

Para-Mail from Paradox Development Corporation was the first email package to be brought into Novell and MHS. Paradox Development Corporation introduced Para-Mail version 2.0 with Novell at Comdex 1986.

External links

Chronology
Action Technologies

Novell Email systems