On 11/30/00 at 1:46 AM, tcmay@got.net (Tim May) wrote:
So, you might say, "it works." Nope. Problems:
1. I ain't gonna read messages that require me to launch my word processor. Mail shouldn't need external word processors or text editors.
Mail programs need, at the very least, text editors, or it becomes difficult to compose. Or do you mean that word processors should be integrated into mail programs?
Fact is, PGP and SMIME went the _wrong_ direction when message signings started to require RTF, MIME, HTML, etc. (I realize these are not all the same thing. The real issue is "non-ASCII.")
Luddite.
ASCII is where it's at, at least for e-mail.
The real issue is a common format. The fact that there is no common format more complex than ASCII is a tribute to the power of corporations over the power of standards - or, perhaps, if one had socialist tendencies, a tribute to the power of corporations over the power of the people - but I'm a fan of standards.