What's with the raw HTML?

From: J. Maynard Gelinas <jmg_at_iac.net>
Date: Sun Mar 15 11:37:39 1998

> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 1998 09:04:19 PST
> From: "Max Eskin" <maxeskin_at_hotmail.com>
> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: What's with the raw HTML?

        [snip lots of whitespace]

> Aaah, I see! When it comes to system stability, you Linux geeks come
> from all over saying how you can DEVELOP patches, but when we have
> some software that you don't, where is that trusty gcc? huh? huh?
> But seriously, is it so hard to patch Linux mail for HTML?
> >There is the little matter of some several million (or more)
> unix(linux,
> >and related cuzins) systems out there where HTML is far from a
> standard.
> >For me and many of the hybrid users HTML means slow, slower and special
> >utilities to handle it and for what? What a waste of bandwidth.
> >

        I've been running Linux since mid '94 during about the 1.0
days or so, and ran Venix on a PDP-11/23 I built in 8[45] at the
tender age of 16. Linux users have had Netscape available to us since
pretty much mcom's founding; yes it supports HTML in the mail client
and _no_ I don't use it. Netscape isn't the only mail reader which
can handle html, I'm sure folks here could rattle off numerous UNIX
email clients which put PC stuff like Netscape/IE4/Eudora to shame in
functionality. The point isn't whether I have available to me such
tools that can filter and process html, but whether html is
appropriate for email.

        Email standardized on plain text back in the late 70's and
early eighties. Just like many PC users who wish to maintain
compatability with old DOS applications, many old time email users are
reluctant to give up compatability with their old favorite clients
just to read your nonstandard email. Others just plain don't have a
choice. For example, consider the many leaf UUCP nodes out in third
world countries getting their village email from a 2400/9600bps
modems... these guys _don't_ need html, but they _do_ need access to
the Internet. Are you honestly going to tell them to upgrade, when
their yearly income is probably less than my weekly salery? America
isn't the only net user, and legacy hardware is the _norm_ around the
world.

J. Maynard Gelinas
UNIX System Administrator - GTE Technologies
BBN Speech Solutions Group
Received on Sun Mar 15 1998 - 11:37:39 GMT