Microsoft holds back the web again

[REM2000]

I can understand why people are saying that emails should be plain text, however i like having sales emails etc.. from amazon.co.uk and play.com, laid out with images of latest releases.

Emails started as plain text, however that does not mean it should not be extended. It's a real shame that html emails have been exploited so much by virus writers and spammers, as it gives people the opportunity to send information in a formatted function, which makes it easier for groups of people to work together.

Everybody who makes use of the internet uses their inbox as a mind dump / storage, it contains vasts amount of information which they use for their daily lives, businesses especially.

Again like IE, Microsoft is in a different position to many other email clients, simply because it's the most used email client, when looking at businesses it has an even bigger slice of the market. When you own the market you have to ensure that others have access to the market and can compete.

People like Firefox, thunderbird, linux etc.. all ensure you the consumer have greater choice in the market place. They also push and try to ensure that when you purchase something from a supplier other than microsoft you can still have access to your media / information etc..

I think Microsoft owe it to the computing industry not to go back on it's self and start trying to lock users in again, they need to continue their good work and keep their products standardized.

[zhangm Supervisor]

I've never cared much for HTML formatted e-mail. I set my clients to force the display as plain text.

I do hope that Microsoft invests some effort in improving web rendering in the Office suite however.

But is the situation as bad as people would want us to believe?

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090626/...in-perspective/

[Growled Member]

But is the situation as bad as people would want us to believe?

You know some people are just looking for something to go off on.

[_dandy_]

Well of course, if you limited e-mails to plain text and disallowed any attachments you couldn't send any viruses because you couldn't send anything.

Uhhh, I hate it break it to you, but people had been exchanging email for decades before somebody had the bright idea of using HTML in email, and it worked just fine.

Because you apparently don't see it doesn't mean that all of a sudden plain text email would become useless.

[Subject Delta]

Any one though that Microsoft cannot use the IE engine in Outlook because of possible lawsuits with the EU?

No. The IE rendering engine is included with Windows, it isn't bundled with office.

[iamwhoiam]

Wonder how long before some e-mail app developer goes and complains to the EU.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Uhhh, I hate it break it to you, but people had been exchanging email for decades before somebody had the bright idea of using HTML in email, and it worked just fine.

Because you apparently don't see it doesn't mean that all of a sudden plain text email would become useless.

Because that's exactly what I claimed.

If you removed the ability to send anything other than plain text (that is, any type of attachment) then you couldn't send any viruses.

The format the e-mail is in doesn't help or hinder the format it's attachments are in, plain text e-mails aren't more or less likely to have viruses than HTML e-mails are.

[C_Guy]

Can't this company do anything right?

Find out how many computers around the world run at least one piece of Microsoft software and then get back to us with the answer. Don't forget to count mobile phones, media players, and video game consoles.

Post your findings and we'll help you answer the question if you're still confused.

[_dandy_]

Because that's exactly what I claimed.

If you removed the ability to send anything other than plain text (that is, any type of attachment) then you couldn't send any viruses.

The format the e-mail is in doesn't help or hinder the format it's attachments are in, plain text e-mails aren't more or less likely to have viruses than HTML e-mails are.

Attachments are just one vector common to all clients. You must've missed all the viruses that propagated over email by using exploits in IE. No need for attachments at all.

Take out a huge complex rendering engine and replace it with a simple one that only displays plain text, and suddenly your attack surface is reduced significantly.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

GMail's rendering is way worse. So why don't you start a thread about Google holding back the web?

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Is Gmail as prevalent in the business sector (the major use of HTML email)?

[HSoft]

I'm completely failing to see what the problem is here apart from it being an obvious troll thread.

So MSFT doesn't use IE as a rendering engine in Outlook 2K7, it uses Word instead. What does that prove?

When you compose the email you'll be composing it in Word as well and since most businesses use Office I really don't see what this thread is about.

As stated by someone previously, most HTML emails coming from the web are spam. Most intra and inter office communications in a business will be typed up and read within Outlook/Word. This has absolutely nothing at all to do with web standards or holding back the web.

Please troll somewhere else.

[Minifig]

Can't this company do anything right?

Yup.

Windows 7.

Nuff said.

[HawkMan]

Is Gmail as prevalent in the business sector (the major use of HTML email)?

the business sector uses html mail ? well yeah they do, for the spam and ad mails....

[Growled Member]

Is Gmail as prevalent in the business sector (the major use of HTML email)?

I think the numbers of business users are low but slow increasing. Most use Outlook.

[CL114C0777498D]

As far as I've seen, most businesses do use HTML email, if only to include their company logo in the signature.

[FloatingFatMan]

GMail's rendering is way worse. So why don't you start a thread about Google holding back the web?

But that would mean he couldn't troll and bash Microsoft for no valid reason!

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

GMail's rendering is way worse. So why don't you start a thread about Google holding back the web?

Gmail doesn't do any rendering :p

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

As stated by someone previously, most HTML emails coming from the web are spam.

the business sector uses html mail ? well yeah they do, for the spam and ad mails....

Can you possibly give your source of figures for that? I have worked in 4 independent companies where we had paid users (in one instance 40,000) who expected to receive HTML newsletters.

I'm completely failing to see what the problem is here apart from it being an obvious troll thread.

Yup.