ietf
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [idn] Re: 7 bits forever!

2002-04-02 08:00:02
I think the issue here is how we can plan a better transition than what we
have done for SMTP.
That is, if we start thinking about "8+ everywhere" instead of "ACE
everywhere" scenario, then how we can get there from here. That is the
question for the IDN group I believe.
Edmon

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Stracke" <jstracke(_at_)incentivesystems(_dot_)com>
To: <ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org>
Cc: <idn(_at_)ops(_dot_)ietf(_dot_)org>; <ietf-smtp(_at_)imc(_dot_)org>; 
<owner-ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: [idn] Re: 7 bits forever!


D. J. Bernstein wrote:

It is not reasonable to demand that this
7-bit garbage be allowed to remain on the network forever, at the
expense of all future implementors and users.

OK, you're obviously in a better position than I am to appreciate the cost
to implementors.  But users? Suppose you could streamline qmail by
dropping support for talking to 7-bit servers.  How do you convince a
postmaster to install it? The bandwidth cost of having to use 7-bit
encoding is real, but small; the cost of losing connectivity to sites is
potentially high.  Worse, it's almost impossible to put an upper bound on
the cost of lost connectivity.  For a company, it could mean losing
messages (and sales) from important customers; businesses have failed over
such things.

For commercial implementors, it's a no-brainer: dropping 7-bit support
will lose customers, so don't do it.  For open-source implementors such as
yourself, naturally, things are less clear-cut.

/==============================================================\
|John Stracke                    |Principal Engineer           |
|jstracke(_at_)incentivesystems(_dot_)com   |Incentive Systems, Inc.      |
|http://www.incentivesystems.com |My opinions are my own.      |
|==============================================================|
|"This [OLE] isn't an API, this is a shaggy dog story in C!" --|
|Unknown                                                       |
\==============================================================/





<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>