mobile user strawman argument

Thu Jun 30 21:57:01 UTC 2005

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 at 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.