>Forgive me, I'm not kidding, I open Word docs in BBEdit and trash what >isn't text, so seriously, I don't know: > >What's the problem with 'Word docs' in email? > >And with RTF? Isn't it precisely a guarantee against virus?
Ok, so you have a work around for Word docs... but wouldn't it be nice if people just made your life a bit easier, and stopped sending private formats entirely. Wouldn't it be nice if they just sent you the attachment as plain text, so there was no need to edit them in BBEdit and worry about possibly cleaning up the formatting? And although RTF is an open standard, it too fits with a 2nd problem. That is, some people (tends to be PC people) don't send an email body, rather they write their email in Word or some other text editor, and then attach that to a blank email. This means in order to open and read their email, you now need some other program that can deal with the file. An annoyance at best, and in some cases, impossible. And finally you get to the 3rd problem... virus. Granted RTF can't contain a virus, but it is still an attachment. By forcing people to open attachments just to read your email, you get them into the habit of opening attachments without thinking... that is what leads to virus spreads. In addition, Word Docs can contain virus code, so the act of opening a word doc can infect your computer, and do other nasty stuff. And this doesn't touch on the more serious and growing problem of HTML in email. HTML is bad because of the virus reasons, as well as tracking problems, as well as size of the email. A simple ascii text email might be 1 or 2k, but the same thing in HTML might be 16 to 32k or larger depending on what other crap is loaded into it. HTML also encourages people to use all sorts of needless formatting (ever try to read dark blue on black?... how about 72 point type... or read around 15 little moving GIFs because they are "cute"). All this adds needless bulk to email. I have had people send me a single line of email with contact info... that was 3mb to download because they include the graphics for their company logo as well as background images (I usually email those people back, and explain very simply why they just shot to hell any chance of me ever doing business with them). And of course, HTML just isn't compatible with all email clients. Would you rather send an email that you hope, maybe, if the person has the right client and installed software, they can read it. Or would rather send an email that you know without a doubt, that no matter what computer it ends up on, no matter what OS... they can read it, and they can download it quickly and efficiently thanks to its small size. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
