On Fri, 28 Apr 2000, Dirk Harms-Merbitz wrote:
> I have customers who regularly send 100+MB attachements.
>
> Email is the most convenient way for them to do this.
> Especially with a local SMTP server in their network.
>
> Why waste time tyring to convince them otherwise?
>
> Dirk
>
E-mail protocols and software are not well equipped, by default, to deal
with this kind of message size. (They're certainly getting better!)
When a message bounces, some mailers send back the whole thing. If it is
delayed in a queue, that's a 100 MB message being shuffled around (i.e.
copied, transferred over a network, etc) using up system resources.
Receiving a 100 MB attachment may be easy for you, but what about someone
who happens to be checking their e-mail over a 56K modem for the weekend
while their away from the office? Their mail client starts downloading a
100 MB attachment and all sorts of problems could result if the
connection is lost or interrupted.
FTP is much simpler, and much more binary in its success/failure.
In general, you and your net contacts may all have the right
infrastructure in place to use e-mail to send large files, but most of the
rest of the world probably still doesn't, and when they go on using e-mail
for such purposes uneducated about the implications, it can create a huge
burden on system administrators.
Chris
-- Chris Hardie -----------------------------
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