At 12.02 -0400 99-07-31, Keith Moore wrote:
Even though application/zip is lame, other mechanisms might be
worse. Maybe we should look harder at providing what would be
necessary to make 'application/zip' actually work, e.g., some
top-level indication of what's actually in the package?
this has the same deployment barrier as adding a new
content-transfer-encoding - in either case the mime mail
reader needs to know what to do with the extra parameter
or the new c-t-e.
No, it has one very important advantage: It will co-work,
with existing software using application/zip, in the way
people are already accustomed to sending and receiving
compressed e-mail in that format.
it will co-work with existing software that most people don't
have, in the way that a small minority of people are already
accustomed to working. the vast majority of people will have
to either install new software or learn how to cope with
zip files, or both. as long as people have to install new
software, why not have them install a new MIME mail reader?
saying that people are already accustomed to using zip is a
lot like saying that AOL comes with built-in MIME support.
At 13.36 -0400 99-07-31, Keith Moore wrote:
so what you are proposing to do is to clutter up the MIME
architecture and degrade the recipient's user interface
just so a minority of users who already use zip don't have
to upgrade immedately. in the long run I don't think it's
worth it.
The zip format may be in a minority of all mail attachments,
simply since most mail attachments are not compressed
using any compression format. But the zip format is
certainly in a large majority of the e-mailed attachments
which are compressed at all, and which are sent to me
by various people around the world. The only other
compression formats which are common in e-mail are
the JPEG and GIF formats. I hardly ever get any e-mail
with attachments in any other compression format.
you're missing the point. just because you have zip installed
on your computer doesn't mean that the majority of computer
users have zip installed.
eith