Colored Backgrounds

[Steve Lamb]

Sunday, December 12, 1999, 8:12:55 AM, David wrote:
> The size of your posting to the list to which I am replying is 9 K. I
> forwarded this message to myself changing the format to HTML, changing a few
> colours and italicising a few words - the the sort of thing I might do if I
> was sending an e-mail in this format. The size went up to 11 K.

    Obviously you don't have it set up to send both text and HTML.  That means
anyone without HTML is SOL.  If you have it set up that way the size is
automatically 2x since it has to send to copies of the text.

> It would seem that if everybody using e-mail changed to HTML format traffic
> would rise, at the out side, by 50 per cent and the amount of space used for
> storing mail on my hard drive, (excluding attachments), would rise by a
> similar amount.

    This is based on the assumption that noone sends dual text, which isn't
going to be the case.

> I think the volume of e-mail traffic on the net is doubling approximately
> every four months so I would suggest that the likely impact of HTML mail on
> the operation on the Internet will hardly be perceptible.

    What supports your figures.  Certainly the population of the internet is
not doubling every 4 months.  If you want a good sampling I could always ask
work if they see a doubling of mail through their systems.  You think
Earthlink Network is a large enough ISP to provide a nice statistical basis?
;)

> You will understand, though not I think sympathise, when I say that this is
> his problem. The relatively small about of expenditure necessary to provide
> the extra storage capacity that would be necessary in the unlikely event of
> everybody switching to HTML e-mail is not going to make much of a dent in
> his healthy profits.

    *chuckle*  Do you want me to describe what ELN uses for mail?  We have two
*full* Netapps dedicated to nothing but mail storage.  They are hammered 24/7.
IIRC there are 3-4 machines (not PCs, mid-range Sparcs) for each incoming and
outgoing SMTP mail and also several POP servers.  A doubling of volume would
mean a doubling of the machines and filers.  On top of that the issue of the
bandwidth on the local network comes into play.  I know for a fact that in
WebOps (my department) we've had to swap from a fast FDDI ring onto 100Mbit
Ethernet which solved the problem for a little while.  We're looking at
gigabit ethernet not as a place to grow, but something that will be needed in
the near future.  If mail were doubled, I have no idea what that would do to
the mail network's bandwidth.  ;)

    BTW, ELN hasn't turned a profit yet so there are no "healthy profits" to
dent.  The ISP I worked for before ELN barely (if my boss then was to be
believed) turned a profit.  Anyway, with ELN you can look at the public
information since it is a public company.  Symbol: ELNK.

> Books are rarely sent by e-mail. Business plans, Project Proposals,
> Discussion Documents, conventionally use the whole range of formatting tools
> to present a readable and easily understood document.

    None of which need all of those foofie things.  All of those have been
done for decades before computers came along to make it easy.  Back then they
were plain text as well.

> I do a fair bit of business in Australia and have no problem with connection
> speeds. Maybe my entry into this market has spurred the Australians to
> install a second T-1 connection ...

    Point being, bandwidth is not a limitless resource across the globe and it
is arrogant to presume it is.

> I suppose we can only assume that such companies concerned are run by a
> bunch of morons who never look at their hit counters or care whether their 
> Web site produces any business 

    I dunno, Macromedia seems to be doing business.  ;)

> My experience over the last few years has been that demand on the Internet
> have risen at a truly incredible rate; not only has supply kept pace but the 
> performance of the whole system has improved. I have every  reason to think 
> that this will continue to be the case whether or not I send HTML e-mail ... 

    My experience of working inside the internet for the past 4+ years is
different.  Supply has not kept pace with demand, trust me.

-- 
         Steve C. Lamb         | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
         ICQ: 5107343          | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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