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The Dying Art of Plain Text Email
Low End Mac Reader Specials
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MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $80, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40, 1GB $20 - Click to Maximize your Macs...
Manuel Mejia Jr - 2002.10.22
What is happening to email?
Once upon a time, email was nothing more than plain text that came to you on a blank screen in a font that could be read by just about anyone. Now two new forms of email have appeared. The first is mildly annoying; the second is wildly impractical for Macs running Unix shell-based Lynx accounts and dialup modems.
The mildly annoying email is nothing more than a text message with some .html added to it. Yahoo.com and MSN are notorious for transmitting email in this contaminated form. The receiving computer will declare the incoming message as unreadable and suggest that it be downloaded to the Mac's hard drive for further processing.
This HTML "page" can be opened as a text file. What one gets is something that looks like the following:
|
Most of the characters are meaningless HTML code. Only a fraction of the transmission is sensible text. A laborious cut and paste "cleaning" produces the final product:
|
Dear Manuel, I found your name as a volunteer and wonder if you might be able to help me I would be forever thankful! here is my problem: although my computer is old, I am a neophite and I was trying different things with my computer. I must have pushed the wrong button at some point because now, everytime I open a file and make some The message Save As automatically come up although I just want to save. Any clues? I hail from Canada and we are having a wonderful day here. How about you? |
In terms of the impractical messages that a low-end Mac can receive, these messages usually have four parts to them. The message will have an HTML file with the message, a .gif image, a .wav sound file, and either a second .gif or .wav file to close.
Since when does simple email require a web browser with all the plug-ins? For basic Triassic Macs - whose users still number in the millions - email is now becoming a decoding chore.
The size of these four-part email message are also a problem. In some cases, the four files together bloat the email message from 4-5 KB to 100 KB or more. A group of messages this size can quickly fill an electronic mailbox to capacity.
If the four-part email messages are not bad enough, there is also "harpie" of bad email: the Word document. Some of these documents are larger than 200 KB and carry messages that could be condensed to a mere 10 KB in plain text. I, along with other Triassic Mac users, usually delete these on the spot because they take up too may server space - and they usually cannot be opened without a modern Mac.
The computer industry needs to be mindful of one economic fact. Most of the world lives on an income of $500 a year or less. Older computers have slowly migrated to other parts of the world and are now connecting these regions to the Internet. If there is to be a true global village, communication standards have to be maintained. Creating vanity email messages that can only be read by well heeled American computer users is not the way to do this.
Even in the United States, old Triassic Macs and other systems still abound. This is one reason why there is such a demand for sites such as Low End Mac.
Recent Triassic Mac articles
- Remembering HyperCard, 08.11. Apple's easy to use, powerful environment for creating media-rich interactive programs is fading away.
- The Web has left 68K Macs behind, 08.04. Those with older Macs are running into their own digital divide as ISPs drop support and Web and email standards evolve.
- To err is human, to correct divine, 11.21. More information on why the Mac Plus degrades over time -- and how to fix it.
- Care for a Mac Plus, 11.05. Of all of the Triassic Macs, the Mac Plus has the most sentimental value among the Low End Mac community."
- More in the Triassic Mac index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: iMac Core2, Sep. 2006 - Apple introduced the biggest screen ever in an iMac with a 24" Core2 Duo model at 2.16 GHz.
- List of the Day: Old Mac MP covers 604-based multiprocessor Macs and clones.
- September 6 in LEM history: 99: G4 vs. Pentium III - 00: Setting up a server - 02: Norton Utilities warning - 10 greatest computer annoyances - 06: iMac Core2 Duo - Mac mini Core Duo - The iMac Core2 value equation - 07: Apple seduction - Why I really want an iPod touch - iPod history, 2005 to present - Upgrading a Power Mac G - Apple intros iPod touch, classic, and video nano
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Anticipation: New iPods Now, New Macs Later, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 09.05. The season of new iPods is at hand, but new Macs may wait until 2009.
- Buy a MacBook Now or Wait?, MacBook touch Patents, Samsung X360 Takes on MBA, and More, The 'Book Review, 09.05. Also 20 years of portable Macs, data backup and preservation, universal U-Charge battery charger for Mac 'Books, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,699, and more.
- Listen to Just the Music with the V-Moda Vibe Earbuds, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 09.05. Well built, the noise canceling earbuds will let you hear all the nuances of your music without letting through background noise.
- Source of iPhone 3G Problems, Army Uses iPods as Field Translators, Gains with Business, and More, iNews Review, 09.05. Also UK bans iPhone ad as 'misleading', iPhone password easy to bypass, GM to offer radios with USB in 2009 models, weather tracking software, and more.
- Macs Gain Ground in August, Consumers Most Likely to Buy Macs, LaCie USB Speakers, and More, Mac News Review, 09.05. Also migrating Time Machine to a new drive and two new keyboards from Logitech.
- Best iPod touch Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Refurb 8 GB, $199; new, $284; refurb 16 GB, $299; new, $370; refurb 32 GB, $399; new, $453.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Used 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $999; 2.16, $1,125; new, 2.2, $1,450 after rebate; refurb 2.4, $1,699; 2.5, $1,999; 2.6 Santa Rosa, $1,849; rebates on new.
- Best iMac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.05. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $279; 800 Combo, $300; 1 GHz $390; 17" 800 MHz SD, $439; 1.25 GHz, $449; 20", $569.
- Overclocking a Mac mini Got Me Hooked on Souping Up Macs, Adam Geller, My First Mac, 09.04. Stories of hot rodding iBooks, G3 iMacs, and PCI Power Macs on the cheap.
- Apple Will Not Abandon Optical Drives, the Mac Drought, Purposeful Mac Acquisition, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.04. Also Mac OS X 10.5 on a G4-upgraded Blue & White G3 and problems using a flat panel display with a Quadra 700.
- Only Leopard Runs Routine Maintenance Tasks after Startup or Waking from Sleep, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.04. Mac OS X 10.5 runs routine system maintenance scripts as soon as possible after starting up or waking up your Mac. Earlier versions of OS X do not do this.
- Tomorrow's Solid State Drives and Notebooks, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 09.04. Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 867 MHz Combo, no APX, $490; 1 GHz, $550; SuperDrive, $625; 1.5 GHz w/o APX, $660; w/APX, $675.
- Best Mac mini Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 1.25 GHz G4 SD, $549; 1.42 Combo, $409; new 1.83 Core2 Combo, $569 after rebate; 2.0 SD, $769 after rebate.
- Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.04. Used 1 GHz, $779; 1.33 GHz, $799; 1.5 GHz, $859; 1.67 GHz, $910.
- 11 Mac Browsers Compared, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 09.03. The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Radon, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, SeaMonkey, Flock, and Camino tested in Leopard.
- Save Internet Radio, USB and Hard Drives, Hardware Manufacturers vs. Linux, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.03. Also Mac won't book after cleaning, newer versions of OS X improve wake from sleep, downgrading to OS 8.6, unreadable pages on Low End Mac, and more.
- Another Free POP3 Provider, Recharging a Dead PRAM Battery, Current Kanga Value, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.03. GMX email now available in US, Panasonic UJ-841S drive won't burn discs, restoring a dead PRAM battery in a Pismo, and thoughts on Kanga value today.
- Best eMac Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Used 700 MHz Combo, $120; 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $150; 1.42 GHz, $349.
- Best Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard' Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Mac OS X 10.5, single user, $99; 5 users, $140; 10.5 Server, 10 users, $395; unlimited, $850.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 09.03. Refurb 1.6 HD, $1,499; new, $1,690 after rebate; refurb 1.8, $1,699; new, $1,919 a/r; refurb 1.6 SSD, $2,099; new, $2,294 a/r; refurb 1.8, $2,299; new, $2,400 a/r.
- Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03. Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS.
- More links in our archive.