> I haven't  yet figured out exactly  how it can be  used (beyond replacing
> UUENCODE et al). MIME  does not seem to be a  working replacement for FTP
> or the various BITNET file formats. The  only thing that is clear is that
> a file (I  mean a "real" file, with binaries  and non-default file system
> parameter    requirements)   is    to   be    sent   as    "Content-Type:
> application/octet-stream". Yeah, and  you still need the  good old BITNET
> style file  formatter to  encode and  decode the thing,  I'm sorry  but I
> don't call that progress.
 
I'm not a MIME expert, but I do know that it is extensible.  New application
types can be registered with IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).  I
don't think that the registration process is intended to be onerous, but
they will want a short RFC decsribing what the new type does.  I hope that
we won't have application/netdata, but rather something simpler and more in
the spirit of MIME.
 
Roger Fajman                                   Telephone:  +1 301 402 1246
National Institutes of Health                  BITNET:     RAF@NIHCU
Bethesda, Maryland, USA                        Internet:   [log in to unmask]