Boy!  I had no idea I would start such I bruhaha = with my response!

By the way, for the record I happen to agree with = those of you that favor plain text e-mail.  (I don't miss having = to deal with encoding and un-encoding binary attachments, = though!)  When I turn off html formatting, I WANT IT TURNED = OFF!!!.  (Unfortunately I am a victim of Outlook 2000 in a = corporate LAN environment)

That being said, it just seems like tilting at = windmills trying to argue against html-based e-mail.  As bandwidth = becomes cheaper, storage becomes cheaper, and processing power becomes = A LOT cheaper, David's excellent argument becomes a bit diluted (and = perhaps a bit trivial).  So what if your e-mail takes 650 bytes = instead of 100 when your storage will hold 50 years worth?  Who = cares if your bloated O/S takes 400MB to install when you have a 27 GB = hard drive?

My point is, its all relative.  I don't agree = with it (it seems so damned inefficient!) but I have to accept the = inevitability...

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
Santa Barbara, CA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.C= OM]On Behalf
> Of Brush, John
> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 2:24 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: MIME Message! (non-vw = related)
>
>
> > BTW2 - And why should the internet look = the same to everyone? Sounds
> > boring.
> >
>          Ah = Tim, you don't understand the issue. Standards
> allow EVERYONE to
> use the internet, not just those who choose = Microsoft. You
> may not believe
> it, but there are tens of millions of people on = the internet
> who do not use
> a M$ OS. These people are getting squeezed out = of the usage
> because of one
> company's quest to dominate and rule the = internet. If you
> consider that to
> be fair, then there is no more to be = said.
>
>         = The internet operates on standards the same as we have certain
> standards for automobiles. Lucky for you, = gasoline is a
> standard product as
> it allows you to drive anywhere you want and = use the car you
> choose. What if
> the gas companies forced you drive a certain = type of car for
> no valid reason
> other than 'they can?'
>
>         = The idea of the internet looking the same to every
> machine simply
> means that ANYONE can use it. If M$ was able = change the communications
> standards from TCPIP to something unique, then = no one could
> use the internet
> except windows users. (and they would do it if = they could,
> but most of the
> internet is Unix based)
>
>         = Again, if you think that is fair, there is no need
> for any more
> conversation.
>
>         = People should be able to get email with a simple mail
> reader that
> understands the internet standard of text. When = one company
> dictates that
> everyone send email via HTML, bandwidth = suffers, slow
> connections suffer,
> and some folks can't use the email programs of = their own choosing.
>
>         = If you think that is fair, then there is no need for any more
> conversation.
>
>         = Try to also recall that changing existing standards causes M$
> windows to be completely open to viruses and = malicious
> attacks. You don't
> hear of too many Unix machines getting taken = down by an
> email, do you? If
> you want to know why, investigate why gates = made windows so
> open to attack
> and didn't even care. To this day, all the = windows users hate
> that one kid
> who sent the ILOVEYOU email, but continue to = worship at the
> altar of bill
> gates who is the man responsible in the first = place.
>
>         = If you think that is correct, there is no need for any further
> conversation.
>
>         = Its not a crusade, its simply a matter of wanting to
> have a choice.
> Imagine living in a world where we wore the = same stupid
> clothes, drove the
> same ugly car, and lived in the same overpriced = house. Its
> all about choice.
>
>         = Best Regards,
>
>
>         = John
>