This example clearly shows one disadvantage with XML, it
requires approximately twice as much space for the same
information as ABNF as used in e-mail.
and given that we're going to be attaching a 20K html part and a 250K
jpeg graphic of the kid's birthday -- who cares? Keep it in perspective
with what's being sent via email these days and where email is going.
Rich content. In 1975, headers were 40-50% of an average message. Now,
if they're 2% I'd be amazed (I haven't analyzed it in a while).
One thing people need to remember, there are problems that don't need
to be solved, too. Focus on the ones that do. header size issues aren't
going to be statistically significant, and if it adds us good, useful
functionality, it's clearly a feature, not a bug.
I am not saying that I am absolutely against XML in a
completely new e-mail system, just pointing out that it
will not be used completely. It will have to be used
together with other encoding methods, like BASE64.
Or we simply define a message envelope that includes the ability to
define parts outside of the XML part that support BLOBs. There are lots
of options here, depending on whether we decide to keep everything
inside XML, or choose to attach certain things outside the package;
both have their advantages and disadvantages.