Why this phobia to HTML mail?

[John Angelico]

On Mon, 18 Sep 2000 17:30:42 +0100, David Gaskill wrote:

>>    The difference is that the humans involved can adapt as needed, though
>>with some difficulty.  OTOH computers, in and of themselves, cannot adapt.
>>When you break standards or venture into the realm of de facto standards set
>>by market majority which can change on a whim you lose all chances of a
>>reasonable expectation of reliability.  
>
>I hear what you saying but I see no evidence of any reduction in reliability
>

Pardon??? 
Short of re-introducing the OS-wars, what do you want to see regarding reliability, productivity, effective 
communication?

>>    The point still stands, that there is no standard and the de facto
>>standard is not enough.
>
>Until Steve Lamb assumes global power de facto is all we are going to get so 
>we'd better try and make the best of it... 

Isn't that a defeatist fatalist approach? 

It reminds me of the Oscar Wilde/GB Shaw/whoever <?> quote. The gist of it is: "There are two kinds of men in the 
world: those who adapt themselves to the environment, cope with adverse circumstances and appear the more reasonable; 
and those who are unreasonable, insisting on adapting the world to themselves, who challenge adversity and who make 
life uncomfortable for others by so doing. However, progress depends upon the unreasonable man who refuses to accept 
things as they are." 

It's the same as the problem of graphical road signs - if they are graphical out of consideration for foreign 
visitors staying only briefly, then fine, but if they are "graphical" because the local population can't read, I say 
teach the people to read and have both kinds of signs. 

I suppose now I can expect flames from correspondents who consider me an iconoclast! :))

Best regards
John Angelico
OS/2 Zealot
Melbourne Victoria, AUSTRALIA
Email: talldad@kepl.com.au
--------------------------

PMTagline v1.50 - Copyright, 1996-1997, Stephen Berg and John Angelico
... I figured out why the world is such a mess: Murphy uses Windows!...