HTML Rendering in PMMail/2

[Steve Lamb]

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Wednesday, September 13, 2000, 9:13:09 AM, Ralph wrote:
> 1.  This discussion started because of a statement on PMMail's web page
> that HTML rendering is a feature included in PMMail on all supported
> platforms.

    To which they have stated that OS/2 is supported less than Windows.  :)

> 2.  Regarding the questions about what level of HTML needs to be
> supported, I think that HTML 2.0 would be more than adequate for my
> needs.  The HTML mail I get is not complex whatsoever.

    Order from Access Micro or Amazon.com and that'll change.  This
underscores what is being said.  What is an acceptable level?  To you 2.0 is
acceptable.  To others it is not.

> 3.  Not liking HTML email will not make it go away.  Automatically
> filtering all incoming HTML email into your trash folder will also not
> make it go away.

    Sure it will.  It goes in the trash, the trash gets cleared out, it goes
away with the trash.

> As someone who has had the opportunity to use both PMMail/2 and PMMail 2k, I
> have found that the ability to view HTML email in the preview pane of PMMail
> 2k is extremely convenient. I imagine that some of the people complaining
> the loudest about HTML email have not had such an opportunity so they
> literally don't know what they're missing.<g>

    As a user of PMMail2k and later The Bat! I can say I have experienced it
quite nicely and dislike it every step of the way.  As someone in the IT
department of a large company who got inundated with 100+ of the lovebug virus
in one day I can say that there are definite problems with it.

> 4.  I agree that it is inappropriate to send HTML emails to mailing
> lists and the like.  However, I also believe that certain types of
> communications can benefit from minor HTMLization making them easier
> for the recipient to to read and act upon.

    This is untrue.  When you can explain why most books are still black on
off-white instead of neon green and flashing red we'll talk.  Colors and the
like are not needed for effective communication.

> 5.  I understand that email was originally intended to text only, but I
> also also understand that copper telephone lines were originally
> intended to carry voice only and not high speed data signaling like
> DSL.  So what?  Pandora's box has been opened and there's not a
> snowball's chance in Hell that we're ever going to be able to shove
> HTML emails back into the box so we may as well deal with them as best
> we can.  Denial isn't going to make it disappear.

    Nor are flawed analogies going to advance it, either.  What most people
object to is that there is no standard.  Other services that come over that
copper that was originally intended for voice also had /STANDARDS/ backing
them before they were implemented.  With HTML in email it is the reverse.
People are implementing in spite of standards.  That is /NOT/ how you make a
reasonable progress in technology.

    You want HTML in email?  Fine, develop standards and you'll get no
complains from me.  Until that happens, though, you're breaking standards in
exact opposite of your analogy.

> 6.  FUD.  It surprises me how much FUD is being floated around here
> about the horror and impossibility of incorporating basic HTML
> rendering in PMMail/2.  I've seen claims that to do so would take BSW
> several years and inestimable amounts of money which would surely
> bankrupt the company and inevitably lead to the downfall of Western
> civilization.

    Really?  I consider it reasoned given even a cursory look at other
projects like Opera, Mozilla, IE, Netscape, etc, etc, etc.  We can deduce a
relative time frame of how long something will take based on how long /those/
projects take.  From that time frame we can also deduce the basic cost by
taking the average salary of a programmer and applying it to the time frame
when expressed in man hours.  This isn't hard stuff, Ralph, not by a long
shot.  That is why I was, and still am, reluctant to put serious effort into
AIMS Prototype.  From my experience with PMMail and The Bat! along with
observations of the Pine, Mutt, XFMail, Pegasus, Eudora, Kmail (etc) projects
I know it will take a LARGE investment of time to get AIMS to even a barely
usable state.



- --
         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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