Why this phobia to HTML mail?

[Simon Bowring]

>but I suspect that the de facto standard is rapidly becoming Outlook 
Express. 

But a moving target with no (published) definition is not a
"standard" at all, and thus cannot possibly serve as such for
people who want to write email s/w!

What's so hard to understand about this?

To use a metaphor (or something!?) from the legal system.

A Law is like an internet standard, these need to be written down
and agreed so that people with the correct background can interpret 
and execute them correctly.

A law cannot exist as a dynamic entity with an unwritten (or secret)
definition, that exists in several (secret) forms that change on
a regular basis !

How would members of the legal system interpret and apply that law,
and how would the citizenry obey that law?

Simon