On Fri, Feb 19, 1999 at 08:36:55AM -0800, Chuq Von Rospach wrote:
> But he's right. This is the SAME BLOODY ARGUMENT as NetScape vs.
> Lynx, but in email form. Users are migrating from Lynx-type email
> systems to NetScape ones. And the people who love Lynx are screaming
> at being left behind.
No, we're not. At least *I'm* not.
My gripe is with the mindlessness exhibited by many (most?) of those who
have joined this migration. If they were actually doing so with
a *purpose*, I wouldn't mind so much: but it very much seems to
me that most of them just happen to like the widgets and geegaws,
and have decided to inflict them (and all the useless baggage that
they encompass) on the rest of the civilized world for NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
If I actually saw pervasive attempts to use this technology (e.g.
HTML-based email) to enhance communication, then I'd feel differently;
at the least, I'd grudgingly accept it, perhaps I'd even endorse it.
I'm all for better communication: that's part of why I have spent and
am spending my life working on the 'net.
But at the moment, my considered opinion is that the overwhelming
majority of people using these little toys have no idea what the hell
they're doing or why they're doing it and have thus reduced the purpose
to (a) being annoying and (b) demonstrating that they don't know any better.
(Oh! Look! Blinking purple salutation! Oooooh!)
Maybe one day when the newbies manage to grasp the rudiments of dealing
with ASCII text, they'll be ready for this. But I'm not holding my breath.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]