Matt Kolb writes: 

> Check out this thread on the higher education e-mail admin list right  
> now.  There is an interesting distinction made between web-access and  
> non-web (pop3) access to the google solution.  Basically it sounds  like 
> we would have to "give" our passwords to google to make the non- web based 
> solution work (you can navigate through the remainder of  the thread, I'm 
> just linking the OP). 
> 
> http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0710&L=hied- 
> emailadmin&T=0&F=&S=&P=758 
> 

Yes, its true you'd have to give them your passwords. With the way single 
sign on is implemented right now, there's no way to pass those credentials 
to an application outside your browser. This is also an issue for using a 
jabber client to do the Google Chat outside the Gmail interface. 

 -Ed