Joe,

In my version of Outlook (98 and 2000), HTML is off by default.  When
attempting to turn it on, you get a warning about it's usage on the
internet.  I have no idea what Internet Mail Service does.

They surely do quote the entire text, but that's something I've begun to
really like: it makes following a thread much easier, and does not promote
gratuitous changing of text in previous replies.

--
Chris Anderson
Director, Technical Support
Unify Corporation



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Clark [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, November 19, 1999 1:51 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Has Microsoft destroyed mailing lists?
>
>
> It's a pretty easy question. Microsoft Outlook and Internet Mail
> Service appear to default to two states:
>
> * HTML mail
> * When replying, you are given a blank space at the top in which to
> write, followed by the entire previous message.
>
> Microsoft Hatemail also does the reply-to-everything by default.
>
> These two trends significantly worsen the experience of reading
> mailing lists. We have to wade through unnecessary duplications (up
> to *seven levels deep*, in my experience), and people without
> HTML-compatible mailers, and everyone on DIGEST who isn't receiving
> MIME also, see garbage.
>
> Microsoft mailers are defaults in Windows and Macintosh, and they're
> free, so it's hard to persuade people that software like Eudora,
> which is better-behaved but costs money, is worth it.
>
> Is it excessive to blame Microsoft for destroying the enjoyment of
> today's mailing lists?
>
> (I am quite aware that people can and do turn off HTML and avoid
> quoting the whole preceding message. But don't try to kid me: We know
> from experience as listowners that *maybe* one in ten does so.)
>
> --
>            Joe Clark
>            [log in to unmask]
>            <http://www.joeclark.uni.cc> (updated 1999.11.03)
>