Re: [idn] An experiment with UTF-8 domain names

[owner-idn@ops.ietf.org]

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From: Martin Oldfield <m@mail.tc>
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>>>>> "D" == D J Bernstein c/o James Seng <James@Seng.cc> writes:

--> snip <--

    D> Yes, sendmail corrupts UTF-8 IDNs. Perhaps other programs have
    D> trouble too. How difficult will it be to fix them? Why should
    D> we believe that painful MIME-style IDNs will be less expensive?

--> snip <--
Please can I ask a dumb question ?

Suppose Boris and Ivan want to communicate by email.

Boris has a wonderfully efficient ISP who is good at upgrading to the
latest software, and lives in a region where IDNs will make a really
big difference. Accordingly he acquires a swanky new domain and email
address very quickly. By contrast. Ivan's ISP is lazy and lives in a
country where IDNs probably aren't so big a deal. Perhaps Ivan's an
emigre.

Am I right in thinking that UTF-8 style IDNs are used then Boris and
Ivan can't communicate unless Ivan can persuade his ISP to upgrade his
sendmail, but an ACE would only need Ivan to upgrade his mail client ?
In fact if Boris starts the exchange and although it would look odd,
wouldn't Ivan be able to just hit `Reply' on his existing email client ?

Cheers,
-- 
Martin Oldfield,
AdamsNames Ltd.