McCoy is Right! New Mail Format to Start Now.

[Timothy C. May]

Perry E. Metzger wrote:

> Timothy C. May says:
> > 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.
> 
> Sorry, Tim, but this isn't true. I know people who still own VIC-20s
> that can't handle 80 columns. Also, users of ASR-33 teletypes might be
> left out by the requirement to handle full ASCII. I was using an
> ASR-33 full time only 15 years ago.

But this isn't 15 years ago, and I daresay there isn't a _single_
subscriber to the Cypherpunks list using a VIC-20 or anything remotely
similar. Of the 600 or so subscribers, and certainly of the 100-200
involved posters, I would bet that essentially all of them can display
ASCII text on an 80-column screen. (I won't get into a Scholastic
argument about what "all" means, as in "all systems can handle this,"
especially as in my message I later said "95%," but clearly 80-column
ASCII is nearly universal these days. Not 15 years ago, perhaps, but
this is now.)

> Now, I know that all usenet postings in Japan these days use ISO-2022
> encoded characters, and MIME and all that, and that people in Russia
> use similar methods to carry their stuff, but they are just
> bounders. I say its back to 38 columns and upper-case only Baudot in
> order to meet the lowest common denominator.

You are once again misrepresenting my points. I said no such thing.

> And of course there are no MIME standards; its physically impossible
> to deploy MIME on two different platforms identically. Why, the
> specifications are all written in english, and we know no engineers
> can read! I can see why you would reject MIME so vehemently.

I said no such thing, so your sarcasm is wasted.

> > The issue is not unwillingness to use new technology, it is, rather,
> > the issue of "stable attractors."
> 
> I see.

Do you? You seemed to have read into my message what you wished to,
that I was making some argument for going backward, as this has been
the thrust of your sarcasm. I made no such point.

There's no point in arguing this any further.

--Tim May

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