Re: [Asrg] What can we expect MUAs to do?

[Steve Atkins <[e-mail]>]

On Feb 8, 2010, at 5:28 PM, John Levine wrote:

>>>> * Create and render MIME.
>>>> (No, you don't get to call yourself an MUA if you can't do that today).
> 
> Are there still MUAs used by people other than retro-perverse geeks
> that don't render HTML?  Even Alpine does a credible lynx-like
> character rendering of HTML parts.
> 
> The reason I ask is that if a MUA knows about HTML, that makes it
> fairly likely it knows about HTTP, and if it knows about HTTP, that
> makes an HTTP transaction a plausible way to send the report.  (The
> obvious transaction is HTTP PUT, but I'm not sure how many firewalls
> and proxies properly support it.)  This avoids the routing through
> strangers problem.

I've seen a couple that don't handle HTML, at least not without some external
assistance. I'm also pretty sure there's one or two that handle in-band HTML,
but don't handle anything HTTP-ish. Not mainstream, but not one
guy and a dog either.

HTTP is worse than SMTP, though, as you'd either need to
implement yet another store-and-forward approach or disable the
TiS button unless there's a live internet connection.

Cheers,
  Steve