Re: [idn] Re: 7 bits forever!

[Keld Jørn Simonsen <keld@dkuug.dk>]

On Tue, Apr 02, 2002 at 08:08:40AM -0000, D. J. Bernstein wrote:
> 
> By the way, in case anyone thinks that my sarcastic ``7 bits forever!''
> is an exaggeration, here's an old quote from Mark Crispin: ``7-bit MTA's
> will never go away. Ever. Mail goes on many paths besides IP, some of
> which are forever 7-bits. You will always have to solve the problem of
> getting your 8-bit mail into 7-bits for some 7-bit MTA.''
> 
> It is reasonable to demand time to upgrade, so that there are no
> interoperability problems. It is not reasonable to demand that this
> 7-bit garbage be allowed to remain on the network forever, at the
> expense of all future implementors and users.

Why change? It works as designed. If we change this, we risk
fragmenting the net. Yes, it costs some more bits when 7-bit
downgrading is used, but that is not a general cost for
normal email use. And it costs some maintenance and some
space in MTAs, but that is not much in total.

keld