Subject: Re: Mime-types
From: Paul Rohr (paul@abisource.com)
Date: Wed Feb 14 2001 - 17:09:45 CST
At 03:22 PM 2/13/01 -0800, WJCarpenter wrote:
>Sure, lots of people do it this way (working with unregistered MIME
>types for whatever reason). I've had moss growing on my rooftop for a
>couple of years, too. Still not right.
>
> [snip]
>
>The ad hoc system of using unregistered MIME types works unless there
>is a collision. (I'm talking about a collision of different file
>types for the same MIME type, not different applications who know how
>to interpret the same MIME type.) In a collision, church secretaries
>lose. It doesn't Just Work. The more that applications register
>their ad hoc MIME types with IANA, the less likely are collisions.
Agreed. I think we can come to closure here. You've been eloquently
presenting lots of really good background material -- little of which was
unfamiliar to me. Still, it's good to have it out there.
The point of registering is to avoid collisions in exactly the way you
describe. We have no reason to expect such collisions in the near future
(say, 1 year or less). Still, registering is a Good Thing. It's a question
of what & when.
Let's get back to the core issue.
Do we do a quick-and-dirty .vnd registration immediately, or is it worth
someone's time -- not necessarily yours -- to do the additional file format
documentation required to get a "first class" registration of
application/abiword or text/abiword?
I'm on record as preferring to wait for the latter, and would like some
concrete advice on what that's likely to entail.
Thanks,
Paul
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