> this type of ossification for long-used protocols is fairly common in my experience Agreed HTTP (and all it's intermadiary like proxy and cache servers), FTP

> this type of ossification for long-used protocols is fairly common in my experience Agreed HTTP (and all it's intermadiary like proxy and cache servers), FTP, IRC, SMTP, ... When you take a peek at what the incumbent actually do and support it's a real wonders that anything works at all. Everyone has their own specific thingy and they own way to understand this or that part. Are they wrong ? Yes, probably, but at the end of the day it's just like this case: the question is not is gmail right or wrong, it's do you want your mails to go through gmail or not.