Excerpts from ext.ietf-822: 13-Nov-91 Re: /alternative John C
Klensin(_at_)infoods(_dot_)m (1561)
However, in the overwhelming number of cases -- at
least in most cultures -- people (to use language consistent with
Nathaniel's understatement) "tend to use...primarily... text-only"
forms, and to do so with rather conventional choices of fonts and
scripts.
Nathaniel and I have had a conversation about this before... Another
thing that should be factored in here is that non-textual data is still
fairly cumbersome to create. If I had the ability to grab a directory
or file off a file-browser, and drop it on my mail tool, I'd send files
and data much more often. One of the more interesting tools I have is
"xsnap", which gives me an ATK-formatted snap of some part of my screen.
Another function in the mail tool pastes it in at the insertion point.
But that's *still* a bit clumsy.
Perhaps, with the emergence of pen tools and audio inputs, as more
standard equipment, non-textual mail will be easier to create, and more
widely used.
Bill