Why this phobia to HTML mail?

[Ralph Cohen]

On Mon, 18 Sep 2000 07:14:45 -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:

>
>> of those quaintly named RFCs on the subject of html e-mail but I suspect 
>> that the de facto standard is rapidly becoming Outlook Express. 
>
>    You don't get it, do you?  De facto standards are not the way to build an
>internet.  You have to guarentee that each part with interoperate with every
>other part.  Imagine that, internet, interoperate.  
> 

FYI, the internet has already been built and de facto standards have
emerged out of the real practices of real people really using it on a
regular basis.  There isn't a standards organization in the world that
has the power to force several hundred million users to change the way
they are using the internet.  Instead, standards bodies generally end
up codifying the de facto standards that have already emerged out of
actual usage.  Consider that there isn't even a single standard for
electrical service around the world which directly effects the lives of
billions of people.  Instead, the de facto standards for each area have
been codified by the local authorities into being the local legal
standards.  

Any "standards" that eventually emerge regarding HTML email will merely
reflect the predominant current state of affairs and will not cause a
change in direction so drastic as to render current practices obsolete.
 That will only come about, when something newer and better and outside
the "standards" is introduced that people start to use in large
numbers.  Of course when that happens, the "standards" will be
rewritten to accommodate this new thing which will then become the new
"standard".  

Ralph


rpcohen@neurotron.com