February 2003

One problem the ``database" (see my recent post here) would have to solve is how different remote mailboxes should be handled. I have several accounts at different locations, and not all of these are directed at me personally, and I also use IMAP for most of them (hmm, if not all).

Using IMAP I may create as many mailboxes as I like — mailboxes in the traditional sense. Different mail servers provide different means for filtering and sorting incoming messages on delivery, hence messages may be delivered to any individual mailbox in one of these accounts. The database view would have to take this into consideration.

Somehow I therefor feel that designing a completely new system for storing messages might not be the right way to go. Instead, perhaps one could create some kind of front-end to the already existing mail client protocols and message stores. For example, imagine each POP account and each individual IMAP folder as sources of messages, like mountain springs. The flow of messages from these springs gathers in a great lake, and from this great lake you can then look at each and every message any way you wish. The great — and most magical — lake knows the source from which a message stems so it's easy to track it back to the actual mail account it was delivered to.

Hmm, might want to find a better metaphor.

Via Peter I read Brad Choate's thoughts on smarter e-mail software. I couldn't agree more. I've tried a lot of e-mail clients and they're all so alike... which is good in a way, but bad in that — as Brad writes — there's no innovation taking place anymore.

I agree with Brad that the paradigm of putting a mail message in a folder is a bit old. Simple and functional yes, but we should be able to do better. The ``database" approach sounds better as it gives you new ideas of how the content of this ``database" could be accessed.

I don't really like the word ``database" though. It's far too programmer-centric, so I'd like another metaphor. Message store, message space, big-pile-o-messages. I don't know. Something else anyway, but that'll give just about anyone an idea of what can be done with it and its content. Also, saying database implies (to me at least) the use of ``a real database", which isn't really necessary either. The key features of this great store of messages that we're talking about should be that it 1) can be dynamically searched (or filtered or what ever) according to a plethora of criteria and 2) it's as fast as a roadrunner doing it.

As for the dynamic filtering options Brad is writing about, I think this has been addressed in a few clients already. If I'm not mistaken Outlook Express has something called ``views" that closely resembles what Brad's describing. The technique could still be improved I guess, and combined with the all-messages-you've-ever-received-gathered-in-one-place approach it'd be a winner.

I also miss threading in the mail reader I'm using right now (the reader shipped with Mac OS X). Jwz has a detailed description of an e-mail threading algorithm which according to himself is the only real way of doing it. It'd be interesting to see how this algorithm performs in real life. Perhaps I should send Apple a feature request.

Last night we saw the movie The man who wasn't there by the Cohen brothers. I think it was great, so go see it!

The movie is apparently filmed on color film stock — according to many online reviews I've read — and then transferred to black and white film. Nothing strange with that; our impression when renting the movie was that it indeed was supposed to be in black and white.

However, after we finished it the movie started over from the beginning, only this time it was in color. There were no notes on the video box about a second version of it so we kind of thought that this was part of the show; another version that would somehow give you another perspective of the story. We saw the the whole movie again — in color this time — waiting for something to happen, for something to be different from the first time. It never happened.

We looked up a bunch of reviews on the net to sort it all out. Apparently the real version of the movie is supposed to be black'n'white; one reviewer actually stated how horrible it would've been had the movie been filmed in full color. Well, we saw both versions, and I must say, it wasn't worse the second time! Waiting for something new to happen during the second watch gave a certain extra charm to the whole experience. We sure laughed a lot.

Wohoo! We just bought a new stereo. Or, we bought a stereo — it would be a lie calling the old piece a stereo. The insanely great party we're throwing tonight is now bound to become a success!

Fun things happen when I ping blogs.unmade.com. Let's see if I can get it right eventually.

The idea I had about using hostmaster@your-name-here.example.com as your mail address is probably not such a good idea after all. Since I joked about it in August last year I've seen a small increase in spam sent to these accounts in the domains I administrate. One thing's peculiar though:

The mail server software we use at Oops gives an abuser (as defined by his/her IP address being registered by an RBL) an opertunity to send an email to blacklist-admin. This is ok I guess, if the person has been registered in one of the RBLs by mistake.

Anyway, this blacklist-admin address is available only to hosts already blacklisted. I'll emphasize that: to send mail to blacklist-admin you have to be an abuser.

Recently I've seen a lot of spam sent to blacklist-admin. Go figure.

According to IT World dot com:

For the full story, see here.

I really hope this aspect of the draft will be retained in the final version, regardless of what arguments The Industry – i.e. BSA, IFPI, MPA, RIAA and others – might conjure up.

In my opinion, the big problem for the music, the video and the software industry is not the piracy – as they insist on calling it – of individuals. Instead, it's in their unwillingness to adapt to the new era of digital communications; they're desperately clinging on to an old idea where they have total control over the distribution of content, and it's a battle they surely cannot win.

I don't say piracy is a good thing – and I mean real piracy where one part is actually stealing from another part – but what these huge-profit organizations are lobbying for are senseless restrictions to the rights of individuals. And these restrictions, these tightened laws won't stop the real pirates anyway, they will only frustrate the end-users.

For example, one effect of the The Industry's attempts at controlling the use of "its" content is the problem of copy protection. If I buy a CD or DVD which is "protected" I have no way of securing the survival of the content on that disc. A CD or DVD only live for so long. What happens when that disc is ruined, by age or by heavy use? Do I have to buy it again? But, I already paid for it, and trying to circumvent the copy protection mechanisms is in itself an illegal act. This is just plain stupid.

I do hope the European Commission will come to its senses. If it does, and if the industry holds on to its believes in the threat from the individual pirate downloader, perhaps such a decision will be the beginning of reshape of the indistry.