GmailがIMAPをサポート開始

一般的なインターネットユーザーがメールを使うとき、メーラーがOutlook ExpressであれThunderbirdであれMacのMailであれ、多くはPOPという規格に基づいてメールのやり取りをしている。送られてきたメールはメールサーバーに蓄えられており、メーラーを起動するとこのサーバーに接続してデータを受信するようになっている。受信したメールは自分のパソコンの中に蓄えられており、（標準的な設定では）メーラーでメールを受信するとサーバーからメールのデータが消去される。

これに対してIMAPという方式では、送られてきたメールはメールサーバーに蓄えられるところまでは同じだが、それをメーラーで読もうとしたときにはメールの内容を自分のパソコンの中にダウンロードしてしまうのではなくメールサーバーに蓄えたままにする仕組みとなっている。メールのデータはあくまでメールサーバーに残されており、それをメールを読むたびにメーラーがサーバーに接続して読み出すことになる。自分のパソコンにメールを蓄えないので過去に受信したメールを読み返すにも若干の接続タイムラグがあるが、パソコンを買い換えても自宅と職場で行き来しても、同じ内容のメールを読んだり保存しておいたり出来る。

このIMAP方式は例えば企業内メールなどでは以前から積極的に利用されていたが、個人が自宅でプライベートで用いるメールなどではメールサーバーにいつまでもメールのデータを保存されるとディスク容量を圧迫するために、あまり普及していなかった。多くはPOP方式でのメール受信にしか対応していなかったのである。ところが最近になって、自宅でも職場でも同じメールを読み書きできるという利点が受けたのかIMAPの人気が高まってきている。HDDの容量増加に伴って単位記憶容量あたりのディスク価格が安くなってきていることも影響している。

GmailにIMAPがいずれ搭載されるのではないかという憶測は以前からあった。Gmailのヘルプには「IMAPには今のところ対応していない」という思わせぶりな記述があったし、世間のウェブメールでIMAPを採用するところが増えてきてGmailにもその要望が集まってきていた。それがようやく実現したというわけだ。

IMAPはまず英語圏で先に導入されているのか、Googleの言語設定が「English(US)」となっているアカウントから順にIMAPに対応しているようだ。僕自身のアカウントで試してみたところ、現時点ではまだ日本語に設定しているとIMAPの設定項目は表示されなかったが、「設定」から言語欄を上記の通り英語に変更するとIMAPの設定項目が現れた。なお、まだ全てのユーザーでIMAPが使用可能となったわけではないようだ。順次対応していくとのことで、今まだIMAPに対応していないアカウントも数日中にはIMAPが使えるようになることだろう。

これでメーラーを使ってGmailを使う人が出てくるだろうが、そもそもIMAPのユーザーはPOPのユーザーに比べて数が圧倒的に少ないので、IMAP一色になるということはなさそうだ。Gmailは豊富な選択肢を用意してユーザーに使いやすいものを選ばせるという余裕を見せ、さらなるファン獲得に動いている。Webメールの世界でもGmailの勢いは止まりそうにない。

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