lynx-dev sendmail (was: your mail)

[Foteos Macrides]

David Woolley <address@hidden> wrote:
>Foteos wrote:
>> agreements).  That's why I'm spending so much time becoming better
>> acquainted with MicroSoft products, and the expectations they
>> create for other software.
> 
>That probably makes sense from an employability point of view,

        Sorry, David, but I have no need for concern about
"employability" at this stage in my life, nor has any of my
involvement in Lynx been from that "point of view".


>                                                                but
>one should understand this logic leads to the conclusion that there
>is only one browser that matters, and that is not Lynx, so it is
>legitimate to author for the behaviour of MSIE, not the standards.
>We are already getting to the situation where mail broken by Outlook is
>becoming the de facto definition of correctly formed mail.

        But you should understand, David, that there is a small
percentage but sizeable absolute number of people who have been
dependent on features of Lynx for Web and Intranet accessibility,
and such accessibility is not a luxury but a right that affects
both their employability and quality of life.  It is not browsers
that matter, but people.

        Take for example, the recent thread on the Alta Vista email
service subscription form.  Alta Vista in general, and that form page
in particular, is geared toward current accessibility principles.
That page should be accessible for any text browser.  But in fact,
no version of Lynx, on any platform, and through v2.8, can succeed
in gaining its user registration for the free email service.  There
were quite a few messages in that thread.   Read were it started,
read where it went, and see if you find anything that even remotely
resembles a diagnosis of the problem, or an indication that it will
be corrected in the forseeable future.  If someone were to write Alta
Vista about it, its maintainers could reply that their page should be
fully accessible to a text browser, as it is for the mass market GUIs,
and that they should get a browser which more fully implements
HTML 4.0 and accessibility features.

        That reply would *not* be ingenuous.  How much of HTML 4.0 and
HTTP/1.1 *in fact* are implemented and useable with Lynx?  I think it
is very important to extend the software's efficiency and the number of
platforms on which it runs, but if it doesn't grant its users adequate
access to information and services on the Web and Intranets, what
difference will that really make?

        As far as the sendmail.exe stub for DOS/WIN/NT is concerned,
Nigel most certainly did reply to my message about problems with it
(though he hasn't figured it out yet).  Though he is employed at
MicroSoft, he offers that and other software based on his "spare
time" efforts -- including tin for w32 despite intent of MicroSoft
for Outlook Express and its successors to become the "dominant" news
reader.  He handles his stuff as shareware, but asks you to make
out the check (for a nominal amount) to the Fund for Rescued Border
Collies in Washington State (his "pet" charity :), not to him (he's
a man after my own heart, not a would-be Billy the Kid out to make
a reputation for himself by shooting down the sheriff :).

                                Fote
-- 
Foteos Macrides (address@hidden during April, '98)