> > On 05-Nov-98 Riley Williams wrote:
> > > I have a simple solution to this - if somebody sends me an attachment
> > > that I can't extract, I send them a message saying so and advising
> > > them to send it in a format that I can extract. As far as I'm
> > > concerned, the onus is on the SENDER to ensure the recipient can use
> > > what they're attaching, not on the recipient to waste time doing other
> > > people's jobs for them...
> > yeah
> > like i'm going to tell a potential costomer (one that i've been chasing for
> > MONTHS) and who finally sends me the spec that i've been practically been begging
> > him to - i'm going to tell him to get a better mailer and send it again
> > right!
> > what i did do was extract it with outlook (once i'd configured it and got pop3d to
> > work and ...) and THEN sent him email telling him to get a better mailer :-)
> >
> > resistance is futile - you *have* been assimilated
>
> I agree. It's up to the receiver to be able to read what he receives.
> And it's often easier to read everything than write every langage.
> I can read American and English, but When I write, I write english
I don't think the analogy is good. I can't go down the street and
buy immediate fluency and ease of communication in another natural
language for $100. And I think you have failed to understand the
reason why, in a commercial or diplomatic encounter, each party
writes or speaks (through an interpreter) in his own language.
The dictum of Internet etiquette is that you should be convervative
in what you send but liberal in what you accept. The problem is one
of discourteous people who thrust all the onus onto the recipient.
I don't think Microsoft can be blamed in a direct sense. Outlook
Express allows you to set up profiles for various classes of
recipients. You can check any and all of "Exchange", "Microsoft
Mail" and "Internet Mail". If you check the last, the editor simply
does not allow you to change fonts and type sizes. Those options
are greyed out in the menu bar.
I have received e-mail on the all-Microsoft LAN at work with fancy
fonts and sizes in it, forwarded it over the Internet to a Linux
computer, and it has been received there in plain text. I.e. it is
a user problem, or a system administration problem on the source
LAN, that unreadable mail is sent.
Sender ignorance and discourtesy, and system administrator
incompetence. You don't need to look any further.
If you focus on the discourtesy issue I think you will easily answer
the impatience of the person you wanted to do business with. You
don't expect it from business associates. A letter to the offender
(on paper) explaining the situation and protesting against your
treatment at his hands should produce the required result.
Microsoft is to blame for developing systems of huge complexity
which create an attractive illusion but are actually, because of
that complexity, impossible to understand and difficult to use.
This may have been intentional, but I doubt it.
--Mike
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