I am a masters student at Stockholm university (Department of computer and
systems sciences). I am conducting research about the success of X.400
and The Internet Mail standards for my masters thesis. I would therefore
appreciate if you could spare some time to answer the questions below.
If you are interested in the results of this research, please indicate
this when sending the questionnaire back and I promise to honour your request
accordingly. Please note that you do not have to answer all the
questions, just answer those that time will allow.I will be most grateful if I
could get your replies by the 10 DECEMBER 1995.
QUESTIONNAIRE!!!
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1. Which e-mail standards are you familiar with?
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2. For how many years have you worked in the area of e-mail standards or
standards based implementations?
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3. In a scale of 1 to 5 (1 for best and 5 for worst) how would you grade
X.400 and Internet Mail (before and after PEM) in regard to how the
respective standards have tackled the following e-mail security
threats? (please indicate the grade after ">:" in each line)
a) Unauthorized reception of information through messaging?
INTERNET(WITH PEM) >:
(WITHOUT PEM) >:
X.400 (84) >:
X.400 (88+) >:
b) Unauthorized disclosure of information through messaging?
INTERNET(WITH PEM) >:
(WITHOUT PEM) >:
X.400 (84) >:
X.400 (88+) >:
c) One user masquerading as another?
INTERNET(WITH PEM) >:
(WITHOUT PEM) >:
X.400 (84) >:
X.400 (88+) >:
d) Message modification attack?
INTERNET(WITH PEM) >:
(WITHOUT PEM) >:
X.400 (84) >:
X.400 (88+) >:
e) Message interception and resulting information disclosure?
INTERNET(WITH PEM) >:
(WITHOUT PEM) >:
X.400 (84) >:
X.400 (88+) >:
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4. Which of the following factors do you think have caused deviations
between standard and reality in X.400 and Internet Mail, in terms of what
is in the standards and what has been implemented? (please indicate with
an (x) after ">:" if you think the factor in question has contribute
to deviation.)
a) The standards are too general
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
b) The standards strive to achieve international consensus
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
c) The methodology of standard development
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
d) Difficulty in getting the standard documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
e) Complexity of the defining documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
f) The coding techniques used
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
g) The cost for buying the standard documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
h) Lack of tests for optional or unsupported protocol elements or service
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
i) Existence of profiles created by different regions and supporting
different functional units.
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
J) Requirements before standard acceptance
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
k) Different certification requirements in different parts of the world
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
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5. To what extent do you think the following factors have contributed
towards the success of the Internet Mail and X.400? In order of
importance how would you grade them?(Use the scale of -2(most negative) to
2(most positive))
Functionality Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Support by government and other organizations
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Reliability of mail delivery
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Cost of documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Cost of products
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Address format
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Routing Method
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Percentage of standard implemented
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Interoperability with other mail systems
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Method of standard development
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Performance ( such as speed of delivery )
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Compatibility between previous and later versions of the standard
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Security
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
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6. To what extent do you think the Internet Mail and X.400 security
features address the issue of Integrity, Confidentiality and
Authentication.( please indicate using a scale of 1(worst)to 5(best)
Authentication
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Integrity
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Confidentiality
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
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7. In a scale of 1(worst) to 5 (best) how would you grade the following
factors?
Internet's versus X.400's method of standard development
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Requirement before standard acceptance
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Comprehensiveness of the standard documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Cost of the standard documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Percentage of standards implemented
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Availability of the standard documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Ease of standard implementation
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Degree of standard complexity
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Errors in the standard documents
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Duration the respective bodies take for the production of a draft standard
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Duration before a new work item is accepted
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
Duration the respective bodies take to come up with a fully accepted
standard
Internet Mail>:
X.400 >:
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8. Which do you think are the most fundamental flaws (if any)
in the Internet Mail?
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9. Which do you think are the most fundamental flaws (if any)
in X.400?
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10. How does X.400's conformance, interoperability and performance
testing compare to the IETF requirement of two independent working
implementations before a standard is accepted?
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11. What effects do you think the following factors had on the success
the Internet Mail?
a) Inadequacy of X.400-Internet gateways as a means of interworking
with the internet installed base.
b) X.400's long lag time to market.
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12. Do you think X.400 has achieved the following advertised goals?, if
not, why not?
-providing global interoperability
-providing the prospects of off-the-shelf product pricing
-maintenance and reliability
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11.What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the routing
method used in the Internet Mail compare the that used in X.400?
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12. Do you agree with the following statements?, if you do, how important
do you think they have been to the success or failure of the Internet
Mail compared to X.400?
Internet Mail standard are simpler and easier to implement.
Too much of both standards is not fully enough defined, or has bugs
its definition.
The O/R name format is more complex for users.
The Internet has a working method for routing which does nor require
support from expensive mail sorting and forwarding companies.
The Internet was for many years subsidized by universities and
government research grants.
Incompatibility between different versions of the standards
(X.400(84) versus(88) and the (Internet (RFC 822) versus (MIME).
Internet does not have a standardized error report.
Internet does not support receipt notification.
X.400 products are more expensive than Internet products.
X.400 has far fewer users than Internet Mail.
Both X.400 and Internet Mail have many implementations commercially
present from many vendors.
X.400 has some conformance specs and testing, Internet hasn't.
SMTP has had limitations, such as size of messages, line length etc.
Internet Mail standards are available in machine-readable format, X.400 has
only
been availble printed on paper.
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13. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of ASN.1
structure of coding in X.400 as compared to the textual encoding used in
the Internet Mail(EBNF)?
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14. To what extent do you think MIME and X.400 are suitable for the
exchange of Multimedia information? Do implementations support such
facilities, if not, why not?
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15.What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of RFC 1123 as
compared to X.400's functional profiles in terms of improving
interoperability, implementation and deployment?
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16. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the
Internet-email extension methods as compared to those of the X.400?
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17. How has the extension methods in X.400 and the Internet Mail
contributed or affected the success of X.400 and Internet Mail?
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!!!!