[81832] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: mobile user strawman argument
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brad Knowles)
Thu Jun 30 18:28:34 2005
In-Reply-To: <Pine.WNT.4.63.0506301738590.2572@jvc>
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 23:57:01 +0200
To: Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org>
From: Brad Knowles <brad@stop.mail-abuse.org>
Cc: Brad Knowles <brad@stop.mail-abuse.org>,
Mike Leber <mleber@he.net>, nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
At 5:43 PM -0400 2005-06-30, Todd Vierling wrote:
> I've done a look-see around my network and acquaintances a while ago, and
> among them were quite a few mailers, all of which supported not only
> alternate ports, but also SMTP AUTH. MSA support is far more available than
> this classic FUD.
Your network and your acquaintances don't count. They're much
more technically competent than the average Internet user. Your
family probably thinks of you as the computer expert. In turn, they
themselves are probably the computer experts in their respective
groups of friends and co-workers, probably in part due to their
long-term association with you and the knowledge that has "rubbed
off" over the years. Even they and their friends/co-workers are
probably too advanced for this survey to be valid.
I worked at AOL for over two years. I know what the average
Internet user is and is not capable of. I know what kind of software
they use, and their total and complete incompetence in configuring
that software, even if given the world's most explicit step-by-step
instructions. If you can't deliver a configuration that works
out-of-the-box for them, and which they are unable to change into a
less functional state, it's not going to happen.
I am the computer expert in my family. My mom is the computer
expert in her office. My maternal grandmother was the computer
expert in her office -- she wasn't introduced to them until she was
in her late 50s, and she's in her 80s now. Even my grandmother is
more technically competent than the average Internet user, and would
be overqualified to be a subject of such a survey.
> It's been nearly six years (RFC2476 was December 1998). Is that long enough
> for you yet?
Don't ask me, ask the MUA authors.
> (Heck, if the change-for-standards-at-a-snail's-pace Pacific Northwestern
> quasi-monopoly could get off their asses to allow alternate ports, anyone
> should be able to offer it by now.)
Plenty of monopoly cable and telephone operators still don't
offer such services, and most will only be dragged kicking and
screaming into the 1980s when they are literally given absolutely no
other choice. The existence of a particular operator that is
apparently somewhat more enlightened does not disprove the model.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad@stop.mail-abuse.org>
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755
SAGE member since 1995. See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.
