Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 15:17:42 -0500 (EST)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Eats, Shoots & Leaves....
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Eric Jablow <ejablow at cox.net> wrote:

> So, I should send all my email as Adobe PDF attachments?  That way
> I can get all my quotes to look right, use en-dashes and em-dashes,
> and use proper ligatures.  What do you think, Keith?

That's fine for people who have software that can decode and
display such attachments, and who have broadband and no disk quota.

Especially if it's very important to you that your email appear on
their screen *exactly* as you formatted it, rather than allowing the
recipient to choose the font, font size, color, layout, etc., that
they're most comfortable reading.

Adobe, Microsoft, and others have done remarkable work at bringing
back the good old days when no two computers could communicate unless
they have not just the same hardware, same operating system, and same
application software, but the exact same version number of each of
these.  They're not quite there yet, but they're getting there.

Throughout computer history, numerous people tried to enhance
communications and standardization:

* The inventors of the ASCII code, which replaced dozens of mutually
  incompatible character codes.

* The inventors of the Internet, which used TCP/IP to allow file
  transfer and email between any two computer systems whatsoever.

* The inventors of the World Wide Web, which used the HTTP protocol
  to make any web page visible to any browser on any operating system.

For a while, things looked dim for the Discordians.  But in recent
years, the advocates of chaos, confusion, and mutual incomprehension
have made remarkable strides.  Many web pages now proudly bear the
banner "Best viewed with ..." or "Requires <foo> version <N> or
better."  Soon it will be impossible to read any web page more than
a year or two old, which will cut down on the obsolete information
that currently clutters the Web.

If current trends continue, it's only a matter of time until we bring
back the pre-Enlightenment golden age of a few centuries ago, when
every village had not just a different system of weights, measures,
and currency, but even a different spoken language.