It sounds like we're putting in lots of options so we can pick and choose
which we utilize in our applications, but Jim Galvin says:
Jeff> > The question is, what does it mean to be compliant with
MIME/PEM? Do you get to pick and choose like this, and if so,
what will it mean if a vendor touts MIME/PEM compatibility if
they only implement what they feel like? They won't
interoperate with someone else who has picked and chosen a
different part.
Jim> You don't get to pick and choose anything. As in typical with IETF
standards, unless otherwise explicitly stated you implement everything
in the specification.
My point exactly. Maybe we should label some of these thngs as implementation
options and get on with it. At least if my company doesn't buy one of the
implementations that contain the features that I think are harmful, some of our
more adventuresome users won't have quite as much latitude to screw things up.
(No, I'm not an MIS administrator. I just sound like one.)
Maybe I'll write a short letter to the ACM like Dijkstra's famous "GOTO's
cosidered harmful," and found an entire new programming discipline.
bob
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Robert R. Jueneman
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