Steve, et al,
On the matter of making changes to the basic grammar of Mime:
Many things can be done better and more cleanly, after one has
experimented and learned. We all know that. In some cases, we may
disagree about one choice or another, even after we all gain
experience, but a point that comes to dominate all of these
discussions is called Installed Base.
Once we have a significant installed base among the Internet, we need to
honor it. We do the best we can with an initial spec. We try to handle
current requirements and allow extensibility for growth. But first and
foremost we need to honor the installed base.
What that reduces to is that we don't mess with the infrastructure unless
we can't find any plausible alternative.
I submit that, in this case, we HAVE a plausible alternative. It may
come to pass that it breaks down under the combinatorials. In that case,
we STILL have available the kinds of enhancements to Mime that are being
discussed. But by that time, we will know we really need it. Right
now, there is strong argument that we don't.
Dave