At 4:22 PM -0500 10/17/99, Istvan Berkeley wrote:
> It seems to me that there is an important issue that is being overlooked
> here, namely the issue of backward compatibility.
Not by me. But the number of people who are "email first and email
only" is even smaller than those that are lynx-limited in their
browsing. It has to be kept in perspective in the larger scheme of
things.
I worry about compatibility on a daily basis. I design it into my
systems to the greatest extent possible. I just don't believe you
don't build systems that won't take advantage of modern tools simply
because 100% of the users can't (or more often, won't), use them.
> Believe it or not, there are still some incredibly antiquated systems
> out there -- for instance there is one mailer that I know of, which is
> located at a major US research university which cannot handle 8-bit
> MIME.
Those exist all over the place, especially in Europe. it's one reason
why I've been slow in moving towards MIME and 8bit characters. But
the affected users are maybe 1/2 of 1% of the user base of my mail
lists. Do you avoid giving that other 99% a feature simply because
one or two people on a list get left behind?
At some point, you have to tell those older installations to join us
in the 80's.
> Do other list-owners have similar experiences of 'information
> have-nots', or is this just a peculiarity of my corner of the net world?
nope. They exist. It's a legitimate issue. But it has to be kept in
perspective with your entire user base. You don't blow these people
away for no good reason, but do you refuse to install that new
voicemail system in your company because one in 2,000 callers still
uses a rotary phone? Of course not. The benefits far outwieigh the
problem. you try to mitigate the issue where you can, but if you wait
to install something until 100% of the universe can use it, you still
haven't done your first web site, have you?
--
Chuq Von Rospach - Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
What was that?
French horns...
