Pine controversy

[Rich Littleton]

This is an example of the wisdom for which Al is correctly known.  If a
major mission of SCN is e-mail (seems proper to me), the it is worth the
effort.

Good show, Al.

Rich

______________________________________________________________________

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On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Al Boss wrote:

> Maybe we're looking at the wrong thing.
> 
> Our model has always been (correctly, I think) mostly based around
> server-side solutions.  Whether we like its interface or not, SCN is
> accessible via anything from a TRS-80 to a Cray.  Yet, this
> "user-friendly e-mail" discussion is mostly focusing on client-side
> solutions.  (I still question the efficacy of defining "user-friendly"
> without a representative sampling of the users, but that's another
> discussion.)
> 
> What would it take to instead adopt a Web-based e-mail model option for
> SCN?  These other guys all took our idea of free e-mail, so why don't we
> return the favor by exploring inventing our own version of their idea?
> 
> * Yes, it'd be a programming challenge.  We have smart people, though;
> I'd bet we can do it if we decide it's a priority.
> * No, the users and the libraries wouldn't have to configure anything
> special on their computers, like POP settings, etc.
> * Yes, it'd be resource-intensive.  Any worse than the other long-term
> options we've discussed (PPP, mostly)?  Any easier to achieve?  Since
> system load would be limited to those who already have a GUI, I'd think
> it would by definition hit our servers less than offering SLIP/PPP. 
> Which brings us to...
> * No, it wouldn't give a graphical interface to people who don't already
> have a graphical interface. (That is, if you had no SLIP/PPP or greater
> connection, you'd still have text-only access.)  But that's another
> discussion, too.
> 
> I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why this is a really bad idea.
> Anyone want to torpedo it quickly so we can get back to the e-mail holy
> wars?
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