🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <40888@think.Think.COM> barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
 >Because email addresses have to be processed by computers, and used for
 >looking up information in a worldwide distributed database, and intended to
 >specify a particular person and even a specific choice of the roles the
 >person plays.
 >
 >On the other hand, street addresses are processed by humans.  And phone
 >numbers don't get you to a particular person, they just get you to a phone
 >-- you still have to ask whoever answers "May I speak to so-and-so?".

Just because a computer is going to process an address doesn't mean that
the address should suddenly become more complicated.  There is a great
deal of both versatility AND compactness in the

	local-part@domain

notation.  I can use my full name:

	Ronald.S.Karr@VERITAS.COM

I could (if the US domain were organized correctly) use something like:

	Ronald.S.Karr@VERITAS.CA.US

to get the same basic information that one would find in regular
US-mail addresses.

But some things that you certainly get that is more difficult to get with
the X.400 addresses that I have seen are:

    o	the ability to remember an address, because it is simple

    o	the ability to store large number of addresses in a compact and
	readable format

    o	the ability to tell somebody a concise address over, say, a
	voice telephone connection to another human being.

But realistically, I don't want to be required to use a prompting or
windowing interface just to be able to enter E-mail addresses.  I want
to be able to type them, perhaps even in large numbers, on my command
line.
-- 
	tron  |-<=>-|		ARPAnet:  tolsoft!tron@apple.com
      tron@tolerant.com		UUCPnet:  {amdahl,apple,hoptoad}!tolsoft!tron