The biggest problem with OE was that it "was there" and managed to
become a standard despite the terrible software it is exposed to be when
anyone finally uses a decent email and newsreader client. (Personally,
I think live mail is working to take over OE's job at just being bad ;-)

You will probably get a lot of input on alternatives, but I have been
using the netscape email/newsreader solutions for over a decade and they
are flat great and powerful for both email and newsgroups.

The best way to get and install them at the moment is to download and
install the "full" version of SeaMonkey
<http://www.seamonkey-project.org/> This will include the Mozilla
browser, email client, newsreader client and web page creator editor.

I have some tips on exploiting the newsreader which makes newsgroups
simple and easy at http://bevhoward.com/moz.htm#News

Hope this helps,
Beverly Howard [Microsoft MVP-Mobile Devices]