> right, because storing your credentials in your thunderbird or other MUA config or in ~/.muttrc or .fetchmailrc is so much more secure than storing them in a system config file readable only by root.
Yes, they ARE more secure. Because they use a keychain which can be unlocked only by my password which I have to enter each time I resume my computer from sleep.
Besides, my /home/username directory is also encrypted by ecryptfs.
And neither of your solutions is actually implemented by the majority of mail relays out there.