Date:         Wed, 24 May 2000 11:10:55 +0100
Reply-To:     Peter Cassidy <pcassidy@APPLE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Peter Cassidy <pcassidy@APPLE.COM>
Subject:      Re: MIME Message! (non-vw related)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

>> In my experience the additional overhead varies from about 30% to over
>> 100%, sometimes much more for very short messages.  To me that's
>> noticeable.  100% overhead is just like my Vanagon taking a dive to 9
>> miles-per-gallon! Take a look below:
>
>Right.  Again, this is extrememly inefficient HTML.  The overhead on a real
>letter is perhaps 10% at most.

Errm, actually it's more like 110%+. HTML e-mail messages are generally
sent plaintext with a MIME enclosure containing the original text again
plug markup tags. So, overall, it's extrememly wasteful - both in
bandwidth
and in storage.

>> I'm not so sure.  People are already using a trick with a 1-pixel graphic
>> that makes it very easy to visit a website without knowing it.  I forget
>> the details and haven't time to look them up now.  But I can easily see a
>> new latest-and-greatest mailer that would execute html code to go out and
>> fetch stuff off the web when a message is opened, and I think that might
>> give some very interesting possibilities to our market-tracking friends.
>
>Yes, it's possible to do this.  But does Microsoft Outlook do this?  No.
>Nor do most people sending HTML email.  The tracking issue is orthagonal to
>the discussion of whether HTML email is appropriate.

True. However, plaintext doesn't allow markup tags containing URLs. HTML
does. AFAIK, MS Outlook attempts to pull in graphics, etc automatically.
Some people include GIFs of their signatures & tag them to the end of
their e-mails (more waste!). If the tag refers to a non-local image,
Outlook will dutifully attempt to drag it down off the net ...

What's *far* more abominable is the case where some mailing packages
send e-mails with markup tags and *not* as MIME enclosed extra files!

OBVanagon : I get to try to start my van tomorrow after 4 months of
inactivity (the van, that it). Should be interesting ..... 8-)

Pete C

--
Peter Cassidy,                   pcassidy@apple.com
Sr. Test Dev. Engineer             +353-21-284316
WW Operations
Apple, Cork, Ireland.