RE: MIME as a vCalendar element separator - bad move...

["Lewis Geer (Exchange)" <lewisg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

No, the reality of the marketplace is that any new personal organizer
has to deal with the internet now.  And you can fit everything you
mention in a pocket sized container.   I know that all manufacturers are
all pushing for this.  Windows CE, not to advertise, but just because I
worked on it, puts a full operating system, IR, PCMIA, and simple
versions of IE, mail, word, excel, s+, and a few games in a device that
fits in the palm of your hand.  Nokia has some great pocket cell phones
that do email, paging, and web browsing.  Prototypes I have seen make
these little devices look like trucks.  Look at the difference in size
between a Motorola Star Tac and a Micro Tac.

Having worked on a pocket organizer, I can say using MIME would make
things a lot smaller and flexible.

Lewis

> From:	owner-ietf-calendar@imc.org [SMTP:owner-ietf-calendar@imc.org]
> On Behalf Of Roland H. Alden
> 
> 
> A device that can send and receive email needs:
> 
> 	1. some communication channel, modem, wireless thing, etc.
> 	2. a keyboard or other message composition tool
> 	3. a screen big enough to make email semi useful
> 
> Today all that pretty much makes the device NOT fit in your pocket.
> 
> A device that can only receive appointments and vCards and can only
> send the owner's vCard over an IR link (e.g. a US Robotics Pilot
> with an IR port) could:
> 
> 	1. Hold a copy of your Rolodex
> 	2. Hold a copy of  your schedule
> 	3. Gather vCards electronically 
> 	   when you meet people with like devices
> 	4. Do the same for simple appointments
> 	
> If you ask me would such a device be cooler if it sent
> and received email I'd have to say yes; so yes, someday
> all such devices will be MIME capable. Can I have one
> today that really fits in my pocket? No. Would the
> manufacturers of such devices be happier if they
> could base some of their work on an interchange standard?
> Yes, of course.
> 
> One problem with email is feature creep. I can imagine a
> MIME compatible email tool that does fit in my pocket
> coming on the market real soon. However, I can also imagine
> lots of people rejecting it because they have grown so
> used to email messages with attached files, graphics and
> fonts, inboxes with 100's of messages, that they can't
> picture a diminuitive tool being that useful. I CAN picture
> myself in an airport phone booth with a device full of
> vCards and my schedule and say to myself "that would be
> useful". I cannot say the same for a device that, for example,
> can RECEIVE, but not SEND email. That can receive a drastic
> subset of my email (messages < 2K or some such metric),
> etc. That's why laminating this particular spec with one
> solely dedicated to relatively high-end email will create
> problems. I'll be the first to admit that perhaps one more
> turn of the crank on technology and these problems will
> disappear; and for a "internet" standard they are nearly
> irrelevant. The problem is that this application space
> lives at the border of the Internet and a whole class
> of semi-connected devices that are not necessarily 
> full blown computers.
> 
> And finally, to answer your question, no I do not intend
> to build one.