Re: Use of XML as a basis for e-mail

On Feb 3, 2004, at 1:21 AM, Paul Crowley wrote:

>> 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).
>
> This runs contrary to your earlier post discussing whether IM should
> replace mail.  I think it will always be a minority of emails that
> carry rich content - for one thing, at least half will say things like
> "thanks for the photo of the kid's birthday!".

Perhaps, I think it more explains that email is a service with a 
complex suite of uses  and has to be designed to allow them all t 
operate easily and reliably. As connections to the internet become ever 
more persistant, the short/quick IM model has become more prevalent, 
because, frankly, it's faster and more convenient than either email or 
a hpone call for some things. But at the same time, as network pipes 
(especially last mile) have gotten larger and faster, email has almost 
migrated in the opposite direction as a transport layer for rich media 
as well.

email isn't mutually exclusive, and the designs shouldn't be. it can be 
many things all at once, with a bow wrapped around it... (grin)

> I think it's still *way* too early to be discussing this sort of
> detail, but for what it's worth...

I tend to agree, but I think it's useful to spend some time hashing out 
stuff in general, and then I'd probably suggest we figure out which 
aspects are highest priority and solve them first, but at least we'll 
have a framework of understanding on which to build those decisions...)

> If you make XML the format you'll have to work out how to contain that
> 250K JPEG.

actually, I don't care if it's XML or not. I pushed the XML button 
because it was a useful container for a more serious (and appropriate) 
discussion, trying to get people on this list to stop thinking about 
"headers" and start thinking about "meta-data", and I think in general 
people have picked up on it. How we store the meta-data is an 
implementation issue that can wait, happily -- but I still think XML is 
a useful tool for that avoids having to re-implement the universe. But 
we'll have that fight some other time.