Possible solution? (e-mail parcel vs. FTP)

["E.B. Dreger" <eddy+public+spam () noc everquick net>]

Here are my "givens":

* Average users cannot, and will not, tolerate FTP
* HTTP and FTP are more efficient than SMTP
* New protocols (IM2000) might be nice, but we need interoperability
* Attachments are usually MIME, with a few uuencoded ones now and then.

Methinks that it's proxy time.  Why not hack the popular MTAs so that they
take attachments, spool them in a Web-accessible directory, then modify
the message.

Just like e-cards...

        ATTACHMENTS:

        1. http://some.domain.tld/path/to/sample/file.jpg
        2. http://another.place.tld/second-attachment.doc

Go to the link, receive a warning that they must save the file after
download, that it will be deleted after successful download.  Or delete it
after a few days.  Or maybe users could manage their Web spool, deleting
messages as they please.

There are some details to work out, but is the "FTP upload" not a task
that we could automatically perform for users?


Eddy

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Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 11:23:58 +0000 (GMT)
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