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Re: ISPs, SMTP and Mail, and the future (was Re: [LUG] Slow andnon-excistant resolution....)



On Sat, 8 Feb 2003, Theo Zourzouvillys wrote:

> On Saturday 08 February 2003 12:36 am, Nick Kew wrote:
> > Aaargh!  I wonder how long it'll be before someone's XMLRPC software
> > starts to accept executable content, paving the way for a whole new
> > can of worms.
> 
> not soap, xml-rpc, or any other web service.  just plain posting of XML over 
> HTTP.

OK, I mentioned XMLRPC 'cos I've just been hacking it.  But if M$ can
botch MIME to let in all those worms, what's to stop them doing the
same with XML?

> maybe one day ;)  Other things such as storing mail in XML format are first, 
> imho.  All the mail addons like MIME and PGP have just been hacked on.  
> Somethign new needs to come about, first.

XML is a medium for data exchange.  It'll only really be useful for mail
when there's a proper content model (unless you want to count XMTP,
which is of course no more than a reformulation of SMTP).  The part
that's now headers (vide RFC822 etc) should be reformulated as RDF
if we're proposing a wholesale replacement to SMTP[1].

> though i'm a bit sceptical of the whole internet industry and it's 
> incapabilities of looking forward, rather than concentrate *only* supporting 
> the past right now;  i can but dream, and hopefuly make a difference.  

Phooey.  Some of us are innovating.  There was no WEBDAV when I
implemented similar functionality in the mid-90s - to take just
one subject you've mentioned.  Though insofar as I was innovating,
MSIE killed it off - along with other innovations that relied on
adequate HTTP support - when it started to become popular.

> someone needs to wake up all the software and systems engineers workign for 
> ISP's, they seem to have fallen sleep about 4 years ago, and not woken up 
> since.

Have you looked at the job ads recently?  ISPs are asking for ASP
and Visual Basic.  Or else they're in London and paying £17K.
You need to look elsewhere for innovation.

[1] My opinion: SMTP works well for what it was designed for, but in
    these days of spam we need builtin traceability that'll work with
    user-level tools, and proper accountability amongst admins.
    So yes, I do accept the case for replacement.

-- 
Nick Kew


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