In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Sp
encer Dawkins" writes:
> I'm thinking that at least some part of the loss-of-transparency issues
> might get more attention from the nice people who want to put application
> gateways between themselves and the rest of the world if you point out that
> this has led to unintended results like 28-Megabyte attachments, because
> it's MUCH easier to misuse e-mail for file transfer than it is to use
> message/external bodies that invoke FTP for file transfer for an arbitrary
> user inside a corporate firewall.
The large email issue is mostly a UI issue. To attach a file with most
popular mail clients, one simply has to click on a few menues. Little or no
external configuration is required. For an external reference, one has to
upload the file to some repository, and make sure that mail message is
delayed until the upload is complete. Repositories vary in name, access
method, authentication, etc., even without firewalls and NAT. (It cannot, in
general, be on the user's machine, because dial-up machines aren't connected
all the time.) The sender's mail system probably can't do that stuff
transparently, because of the authentication issues. And the send needs
a progress indicator for the upload of the file as well as the mail.
Bottom line: it's not just harder, it's inherently harder, but good UIs would
help a lot.
--Steve Bellovin
