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

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

Jonathan Rochkind wrote:

> >(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.
> 
> HTTP and email, serve different transport purposes.  I don't think I really
> need to explain in what ways they are different, because we all know.
> Suffice it to say that mailing lists work better as a mailing list then it
> ever could as a web page, even with forms and all that stuff.  A mailing
> list is a different transport-method choice then HTTP is.

Agreed, and I think my follow-up clarified my claim that the Web is
the likely successor to standard e-mail.

I think a generation exposed to Mosaic and similar browsers will want
to find ways to use these windows into the Net for _nearly
everything_. They will not want to buy or learn separate mail
programs, negotiate separate accounts, or deal with MIME sorts of
issues. They will ask for, and get, "gateways" between mail and the
Web. (Gateways may not be the right word.)

(We see this already, on the CP list, with Web pages containing the
Cypherpunks list, with Web versions of my FAQ, etc. In the next few
months, let alone the next few years, I expect to see more and more
people reading the list via someone's Web pages. Maybe their own,
maybe someone else's, etc.)

> I don't think we'll ever stop using email in favor of the web and HTTP,
> because they serve different purposes.  I don't think Tim really does
> thinks we'll stop using email either, since I've heard him deprecate the
> web several times.  He is just trying to convince us not to use MIME (or
> html for that matter) in email we send to the list, and thinks maybe this
> argument will convince us and not result in us calling him a technophobe.
> :)

I'm not sure what "deprecate the web" means here. I use "lynx" fairly
regularly to retrieve stuff, and think it's pretty useful. I'm also a
prime candidate for getting Netscape, when a few things stabilize (I
won't say what, as that will then trigger the "Why don't you use X?"
sorts of comments I get).

My main point is that the most compelling strategy seems to be to
stick with ASCII for a while, avoid minor-but-painful gains with
Postscript, Acrobat, Replica, TeX, FrameViewer, etc., and then jump to
the Web/html/http/blah blah when the time is right.

--Tim May


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