ned+ietf-smtp(_at_)mrochek(_dot_)com wrote:
<ned+ietf-smtp(_at_)mrochek(_dot_)com> wrote:
given that the only document out of EAI that has made
it to RFC status is an informational overview
The next two EAI Last Calls started yesterday, there can
be four EAI RFCs soon.
And once there are it will take considerable time for the experiment to even
start in a meaningful way, assuming it ever does. The email architecture
documeent is needed now and shouldn't have to wait for any of this. It can
always be revised later to reflect the extent to which EAI becomes a reality.
Right.
There has always been a strong temptation to have the document refer to what
should be, could be, or will be (for some definition of "will", given the
inability to predict the future successfully.) After all, these would allow
casting an improved system, and who doesn't want the system to be better?
But the decision from the start was to have this particular document only
specify what is. And believe me, that has been more than enough challenge.
Astonishingly, even with this constraint, the effort has required more inventive
design than I've ever had to do, at the least suggesting that we (the aggregated
email technical and operations community) really haven't had a thorough and
shared understanding of the current service.
I've chosen to interpret that fact as demonstrating how important it is to stick
with "is".
d/
--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net