On 11/21/03 9:27 AM tass wrote: >"The rest of the internet"? Who are they? They are us! And standards >aren't what some back-room consortium of techno-geeks says they are. >Standards are what is "standard" for a given industry or culture. >And this standard is so old that hearing about it is actually new to me. > >Again, no M$ lover, I. But "a quick thought overnight"????? >We're talking TWENTY ONE YEARS and (technologically) lifetimes ago!!!!!!
Dear tass and others who commented on this problem: There is an analogy here with the typewriter. The QWERTY keyboard was designed many decades ago (far more distant in the past than the 78- character line) in order to SLOW typing so the keys would not jam. Soon, improved design obviated the problem, but QUERTY did not change. Over 60 years ago, the Dvorak keyboard made it possible for first-year typing students to pound out 60 words a minute, which is close to a professional level. Still QWERTY did not change. It's the standard despite its deficiencies. Today, you can make your keyboard a Dvorak with a free download, but how many do? Would you? See <http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/> That's why 78-character lines are still the standard, whether or not you and I like it. We can wish for something better and agitate for it, but I don't see it coming soon. Nobody will change until everybody does. It wouldn't do any good for, say, Earthlink to use it alone. However, if Earthlink, Microsoft, AOL, and the other biggies got together and changed all their software (and maybe hardware), the smaller fry would have to go along. Len -- Leonard Morgenstern [EMAIL PROTECTED] If something looks simple but hasn't been done, maybe it isn't as simple as it looks
