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000192_misckit-reques…aska.et.byu.edu_Wed Apr 27 15:17:24 1994.msg
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Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 15:11:07 -0600
From: Don Yacktman <don@darth.byu.edu>
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To: misckit@alaska.et.byu.edu
Subject: Re: More than just a Mail object....
Reply-To: don@darth.byu.edu
> It's really neat to see freeware that leads "costware" in functionality
> and availability!
Well, in the case of my mailer object, I don't think it does
this yet. :-) The DSMailer still has several convenient
features that I don't have, mostly with how you _build_ your
message from scratch. Right now, I'm taking an rtf file (or
rtfd) from the filesystem, but don't take it from a stream,
etc., etc. so there's a lot missing. Like I said, I can get
it to send messages, but that's about it... Still, there's a
lot of potential for this and other stuff I've got up my
sleeve.
This brings up some other points, though. (1) The costware
is still very important. It provides technical support and
bug fixes. You get a little with the MiscKit, but it's
nowhere near as comprehensive--you get what you pay for. (2)
By providing a "basic" level of functionality that is
available publically, it raises the bar for 3rd parties.
They have to do better (more functionality or better design,
etc.) in order to be successful.
Most of the folks who use the MiscKit currently either don't
need the support or can't afford the cost. Most MiscKit
contributors are the same types of people--educators,
students, hackers, hobbyists, and independent consultants and
developers. People who need the support and can pay for it
do so. What I wouldn't be surprised to see in the future is
someone who is paid to provide MiscKit support--a "demi" 3rd
party, sort of like the ones who support GNU products. I
don't know of anyone planning to do this right now, but it
could happen; who knows?
> In this vein, it would be REALLY neat to have a Mailbox
> object. This class could
>
> (theoretically) read Unix or NS mailboxes, and do smart
> things (such as:
> provide messages
> delete messages
> ...?...
Yes, this would be great. Who wants to write one? :-)
Seriously, it seems like a semi-intelligent subclass of the
List class, doesn't it? With methods to read/write to a
specific file, perhaps. And easy hooks to a matrix and
associated text object for display, right? :0) Then you
almost have NeXTMail.app right there... This could be a
very interesting object! One thing I don't like about UNIX
and NeXT mailboxes, though, is that they aren't
heirarchical. Perhaps a MiscTree would be a better
choice for a base class
---
Later,
-Don Yacktman
Don_Yacktman@byu.edu