ietf-822
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Re: Multi-level content-types

1991-10-26 07:44:16
Excerpts from internet.ietf-822: 25-Oct-91 Multi-level content-types
david(_at_)eco(_dot_)twg(_dot_)com (471)

For the record .. I am happy with two-level content-types after
seeing responses to my note of the other day.  I am certain that
the hyphenated type names (e.g. Davids-Widgets-Inc-xxx) will
work out as well as cmu-cs-a.arpa type hostnames worked over
the long run.  It remains to be seen if the number of content-type's
will grow to the same extent as Internet hostnames has.  And
even if it does we can easily extend the syntax with more
levels of /'s.

I'm glad we can agree on this for now at leas.  I must say, though, that
I'm sk about the comparison to hostnames/domain names.  The number of
hosts was (and is) increasing steadily, because you need more hosts for
more users.  It is FAR from obvious that this is also a characteristic
of mail types.  That is, I see no reason to assume anything remotely
like a linear relationship between the number of mail users and the
number of desired mail types.  The need for video mail, for example,
does not suddenly appear because there are more email users.  There is
an underlying "market" for video mail with even a dozen users, though
this market still awaits technical practicality.  My guess is that the
number of users of email can increase exponentially, and it will still
cause only a very small increase in the number of mail types.  This was
NOT true of hostnames.  It's not a good analogy. -- Nathaniel


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