Bill McIntyre wrote on 13-03-2007 00:34 * * * Start of original message
text * * *
I suspect its more likely that I'm the one out of tune, but I use
Mail on 10.4.8 and if I'm having all these problems that you
describe, I'm not smart enough to realize it.
I dont think so Bill.. many many people surrender to HTML mail because
it
looks beautiful and is spoon-fed comfort food. You are with the
majority, and I realize that I am with a minority.
I am not saying these things because I look down at people, not at all
the case, but I really firmly believe that E-mail actively doing things
as it comes in, is poison ...
To prove that, ... I just registered for a webcast on Virtual Private
Networking.
The very nice site sent me a confirmation mail, and it sends me a .VCS
file which would automatically change my MS Outlook or Apple calender.
In many cases that would be great, I do not deny that.
But anyone understanding the technical mechanism of these and (on
Windows) Visual Basic embedded, sees an open garage door that can
modify
things in your computer doing almost anything, and ONLY if the
anti-virus
people are ahead, and we pay all the 27 small fees that start to become
daily bread.. we could survive without getting robbed.
But, the antivirus people are always a step behind, just like a
toe-truck
or fire truck cannot drive towards the accident that has not yet taken
place (except in the movie Minority Report perhaps)...
So, my opinion is, why embark on yet another arms race, I with one
simple
'switch' you can say: I will not allow any programming language in mail
bodies.. period...
An yes, I am a stubborn minority, but I do not like to see an antivirus
buisiness grow paired with a virus-business and viral marketing grow
exponentially since the day that I wrote the very first (squared
stupid)
virus-scanner myself as a systems admin at GE europe somewhere around
1987. That one took a shovel and coal and water from a tank to run
(=joke, polite request to LOL), but... i really HATE to see headline
news
items in Europe at least telling that today, 7O to 80 percent of
internet
line capacity is consumed by pumping spam thru the glasfibers and
cupper
wires of internet...
do people realize that 70 or 80% percent of the total cost of all
worldwide internet line infrastructure goes to pumping crap around ?
Should we honour those people by confirming every single receipt of
their
mails, feeding feedback input into their databases to show we still
exist
and sign up that way for yet the next round of spam ? I dont think
so...
And yet, I am a weirdo saying these things.
And companies are often looking for a 2% cost improvement, and my GE
finance manager once decided the cleaning crew was to skip 1 in 2 days
not putting a thin plastic bag in the trashcans to save so many plastic
bags... meanwhile, we are tying and handing over our coronary arteres
(if
i spell that right) right into companies and organizations (because
spam
for sure is not just natural fall out !!) sucking out all our juice...
In the interest of people, and because other than youngsters graduating
in IT today, I have seen and can still see a world without HTML in mail
bodies, and a world with and without surrendering the control we should
keep to ourselves.
If all the crap that is delivered via HTML mail, would be delivered to
peoples mailbox in the front door, nearly all people would refuse and
complain.
We do not need HTML in message bodies; We really do not need it.
And we should make sure that computer vendors work for their customers
and stop producing the software that tie us into a brainless consumer
role.
It is not the users that are wrong in this matter; it is the
manufacturers, and specifically Apple who have always claimed their
quality was not to make the Windows mistakes; and now they turned
themselves over to the red light district.
Can people imagine what a giant and wrong step is being made when every
peace of paper, letter or advertising material is sending a 'Yes he's
read it', including date and time and IP address up to the microsecond
back to the sender who has the exact opposite intrest and is our
counterplayer in the commercial game ?
I am probably ranting all of this to people who understand this more
than
average and out there are many non-tech users who do not know any of
this, and send out a hundred confirmations a day, having an impact on
their lives and credit situation. So, I would almost say sorry ..
but I
do indeed love a Mac that has no software onboard at all to be
exploited,
and aside from that, I am running servers that have ALL the software to
interact with other computers. But I completely separate these from
eachother.
naughty Marc
---
Just Marc _,,,'^-_-^',,,_ [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ 3888426
W has gone haywire, with his BADGET
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