hi all
our list is enjoying a kopyright kefuffle right now
so 'ownership' is at the forefront of my consciousness
i would like to offer my rant [further below] as a trade
for permission to replicate this exchange [immediately below]
the exchange between Russ Hunt and Joe Clark forms
the clearest description of e-mail history
that i have seen
i think it would be of great help to a lot of our list-members,
who are not only new to the net but new to computing,
as well as potentially under emotional stress
credited, non credited, makes no nevermind to me
how about it?
janet
-----rant number one-----------------------------------------------
At 14:36 1999/11/21 AST4ADT, Russ Hunt wrote, in reply to Joe Clark:
>Yes. Or at least seriously damaged.
>
>> Is it excessive to blame Microsoft for destroying the enjoyment of
>> today's mailing lists?
>
>No.
>
>> (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.)
>
>Absolutely. Especially because M$ tells people they don't need to
>know or do anything to run the stuff, and then blindsides them by
>giving them stuff that makes their mail unreadable.
>
>I think the problem is that at M$ there's no history, and no need to
>know about it. They don't know, or care, that conventions and
>protocols for exchanging text already existed before they started
>developing their bloatware, and they have no reason to know, or
>care, because everybody buys their stuff anyway.
>
>(They're also destroyed file name conventions, but don't get me
>started on that . . .).
>
> -- Russ
> __|~_
>Russell A. Hunt __|~_)_ __)_|~_ Professor of English
>St. Thomas University )_ __)_|_)__ __) PHONE: (506) 452-0424
>Fredericton, New Brunswick | )____) | FAX: (506) 450-9615
>E3B 5G3 CANADA ___|____|____|____/ [log in to unmask]
> \ /
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.StThomasU.ca/~hunt/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
-----rant number two----------------------------------------------
Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 12:43:18 -0500
From: janet paterson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: LIST: Re: Duplicates - E-mail Formats - Plain/Text Vs
Multipart/Mixed
To: [log in to unmask]
Hi all;
In reply our duplicate-message-problem listmember:
Somewhere in between sending your first message and your second message to me yesterday,
your e-mail software settings got changed from this:
>Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
> boundary="----_=_NextPart_000_01BF26EE.C75CADF8"
to this:
>Content-Type: text/plain
which very likely has been behind the 'duplicates problem' all along.
MS Exchange may refer to "Content-Type:" in different terms; but this is a critical setting in instructing the mail server machines as to the formatting of your messages.
"Multipart/Mixed" refers to new-ish options available for sending messages in formats other than "Plain/Text", i.e. in HTML format for viewing as a WWWeb document, and in another image format [possibly GIF] for viewing as a graphics document.
Sending E-mail in formats other than "Plain/Text" is a badly conceived idea, in my humble opinion - doing so contradicts all the internet conventions and standards which established the universal accessibility of this miraculous medium in the first place.
"Multipart/Mixed E-mail" strikes me as an OxyMoron of the most Moronic type.
If Microsoft [my suspicion] conceived of this concept, well, all I can say is, "It figures."
The "boring" Plain/Text format [no fancy fonts, no fancy colours, no fancy graphics] of internet communication forms the backbone and structure of the net.
"All you get" are the words, but the words get to all.
Maybe that's what Marshall McLuhan [a former Professor of English at the University of Toronto!] meant when he said, "The medium is the message."
And now I say, "Mixing the medium is a mess."
janet
on a rant
------------end of rants----------------------------------------------
janet paterson
52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
e-mail - [log in to unmask]
web-site - http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/
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