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

[mccoy@io.com (Jim McCoy)]

tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May) wrote:
[...]
> I see two "stable attractors" for text/graphics/multimedia/etc. sent
> over the Net:
[1. ASCII text, proving once and for all that Tim has never had to do any
significant work with cross-OS networking or managing a heterogeneous
LAN...]
>
> 2. The Web, for graphics, images, etc. [...]

Hmmm... and what kind of protocol does HTTP use for structuring the
messages it passes from the server to the client....   RTFM Tim.

> 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.

You should try spending some time working with mail crossing multiple
gateways running different OSs and even different character sets [an
EBCDIC<->ASCII cross is particularly fun...]  The fact is that there are a
variety of different commercial systems out there and they all seem to want
to speak thier own language.  MIME provides a means of seperating the
message itself from the method and systems used to transport that message.
A mail message is the most basic form of communication structure that is
commonly used on the net.  News is just an extension of the mail message,
MIME is another extension of the message, but in a different direction.  It
seperates the message from the program that created it.

ObCrypto:  Without MIME crypto will never have the unification we seek.
With the MIME message format it is possible to put together a mail message
that will not be mangled by passing through several different gateways or
other network boundary objects, and it allows the message to bundle itself
up into functional parts.  It allows one to seperate the signature from the
message if you want, or create an encrypted message that can pass from a PC
running on a Microsoft Mail system across the net to a Amiga that downloads
it off a Fido BBS without the end-users needing to worry about what path it
took and what kind of changes may have been made upon the message during
transport. 

On this particular subject you just haven't got a fucking clue what you are
talking about Tim.

jim