Re: HTML Mail (was: RE: Sending -- RPG400-L


On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, James David Rich wrote:
> 
> True, but my text-only client doesn't display attachments *or* open them.
> Furthermore, I would have to explicitly include the attachment in replies
> (though I guess the same is true of other clients).

Amen!  Though, pine can be configured to launch programs to view certain
types of attachments -- it isn't configured to by default, and certainly
would never do it without you explicitly choosing to "View" the
attachment!

To me, allowing an E-mail client to launch an attachment is much like 
saying "Send me any program, written by anyone in the world, and I'll
run it, without even knowing what it does!"

> >   IMHO, especially since they are available for a free download, it's time
> > to upgrade (Eudora comes to mind as an example.)  I thought we have had the
> > RPG/400 vs. RPG IV type of debates and the latest technology won?  HTML is
> > not an immature technology.
> 
> Yes, but not every platform runs Eudora (I'm on linux).  Plus, I can use
> ssh and use my client to read email over a phone line, or from anywhere on
> the 'net.  I don't have to install any special software to read my mail
> from any computer that has internet access. 

I agree with you wholeheartedly!   I also use pine for just about
everything...    I like being able to log onto my machine from anywhere
in the world.  

Every day, I log onto my computer at home from work, and check my mail.
Every night, I log onto work from home and check my mail.

I get upwards of 300 messages a day, and I couldn't keep up, otherwise.

> While not perfect, when was
> the last worm or virus that attacked pine?

AFIAK, October, 2000.   Well, okay, it wasn't a worm or virus, but it
was a buffer overflow attack.  Check this out for details:

ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/CERT/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-00:59.pine.asc

> Or how about my email client that runs on the AS/400?  Yes, it can be done
> and no, I don't have any code to share (too bad - this is a project that
> never got finished).

Hmmm.... I also have an AS/400 e-mail client that I wrote myself.  I'm
thinking that you and I are very much alike :)

> Not every platform that supports email supports HTML
> formatting.  There is no reason why every client *should* support HTML
> formatting.  This is not an issue of using immature technology, it is an
> issue of being considerate to others (and coincidentally avoiding security
> and privacy problems as Hans pointed out).

Hmmm... my version of pine does support HTML formatting -- it doesn't do
different sized fonts, or graphics, etc but it does at least parse the
HTML tags and omit them from the text.

But it only works when the MIME-type is set to "text/html" on the
document!   Many of the people on these lists have BROKEN e-mail
clients that post HTML code, but refer to it as "text/plain"!
I mean, following the internet e-mail standards should not be optional for
an internet e-mail client!

Not only that, but HTML formatting screws up digest mode, screws up
the archives (though, David appears to have done a great job of
working around that) and is completely unnecessary in this type of
forum.

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