Does anyone know if there is a program in Ubuntu- debian-Hardy that is similar to the free download mailinfo which informs you when your sent mail has been read how many times it has been viewed etc

You mean over SMTP mail?

SMTP mail has the ability for senders to request delivery status notifications, but this tells you only the status of delivery to a remote server, and nothing about the recipient actually receiving the mail.

SMTP mail also has the ability to request read receipts, but these are subject to the recipient's wishes (the recipient must allow notification).

There are no other notifications in SMTP mail.

A common, shady practice is to place web bugs in HTML mail, so that when opened, and remote server request is made and you can track that. But users are free to disable HTML mail, whereby this technique is defeated.