PEM could co-exist with MOSS is to provide a message security standard
independent of MIME. This is purely a technical opinion.
but why does one WANT to use a mechanism like this independent of
MIME? The incremental expense of having the MIME context is, essentialy,
zero.
Because there exist many mail UA's that do not support MIME. This is for
the user. For example, the ietf-pay BOF minutes you forwarded was MIME.
I had to click 6 times to see all parts and my mailer later crashes. I was
using a famous mail tool... For automated services, it is easier not to
require MIME compliance, so the developers don't have to code more. I
understand for some, MIME is every where. But I don't have it on all the
systems I use.
I think the example which was mentioned first was the use of classic-PEM
to communicate to the Certification Authority. Why force all SMTP capable
implementations who can simply create and send a PEM message, have to know
MIME to create MOSS and send it? The CA must then also speak MIME.
Regards,
Ali