Re: McCoy is Right! New Mail Format to Start Now.

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Perry E. Metzger wrote:

> Timothy C. May says:
> > 
> > Notice: MPEG-II Video Mail Attached: Quicktime 2.1-compatible. This
> > messages has been formatted as a HyperMIME document. Do not attempt to
> > read it on a non-HyperMIME-compliant system.
> 
> You know Tim, I agree with you. This newfangled technology stuff is
> just too hard to deal with. Multimedia email is an obvious dead
> end. I'd suggest that we all move back to paper and pencil -- thats a
> simple common denominator that we all are capable of managing.
> 
> In fact, we all ought to just gather about in our stone cave around
> the fire and chat about this in person -- its friendlier that way.

I see two "stable attractors" for text/graphics/multimedia/etc. sent
over the Net:

1. Straight text, ASCII, 80 column format. All systems can handle
this, all mailers and newsreaders can handle it, it's what the Usenet
is essentially based upon, and it gets the job done. It meets the
needs of 95% of us for 95% of our needs.

2. The Web, for graphics, images, etc. This will be the next main
stable attractor, deployed on many platforms. (I'm assuming the debate
here about Netscape standards does not imply much of a fragmentation,
that Mosaic, Netscape, MacWeb, etc., will all basically be able to
display Web pages in much the same way.)

I'm not arguing against technology, as Perry surely knows. I used
FrameMaker 4.02 for my Monte Carlo paper, prettified with nice fonts
and printed in 2-column format. I am willing to supply a "FrameViewer"
version to this list, if there's enough interest. Other standards I
have to deal with are Replica and Acrobat (my Smalltalk vendor likes
these), Postscript versions, and the usual assortment of
semi-proprietary standards for PhotoShop, Painter, MORE, and so on.

The issue is not unwillingness to use new technology, it is, rather,
the issue of "stable attractors." That is, what can I/we reasonably
expect others to also have. Clearly if I issued my paper to the list
in FrameMaker format, or Acrobat format, or even TeX format, only a
few people would be able to read it. Fewer still would actually take
the steps needed to actually display the paper.

Standards, standards, standards!

I don't think the minor extensions to e-mail (loosely called "MIME,"
though MIME serves other functions besides attaching graphics) are
worth the effort, frankly. Most of the MIME messages (the ones that
tell me about "ISO 558972 fonts" and "Press any key to return") don't
seem to warrant the effort....I think in 90%+ of the cases people
simply send messages as MIME by default, not becuase non-ASCII stuff
is included.

If we make the leap, I say make the leap to the Web:

cave drawings --> text --> e-mail --> Web

(By Web I of course mean the whole ball of wax involving HTML/HTTP/etc.)

This is not a rejection of new technology, just a wise selection of
which technology to bet on.

--Tim May





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