4 ms·

Move over HTTP it's SMTP's Turn to Shine

17 points by BenjaminCoe 15y ago

pan69 15y ago
Interesting article. However, I would have liked if the author would have gone more in-depth on what type of applications could be build on top of SMTP by giving some examples and why SMTP would be more beneficial than e.g. HTTP for those applications.
- BenjaminCoe 15y ago
  Hey, I don't mind going into some more detail here: With attachments.me, we've been looking at using special ephemeral email addresses for categorization: * You can post to an email address with your company name and a folder in it, and the attachment will automatically be categorized within that folder. Here's some other ideas: * Email an image to an email address, with dimensions in the body, the email is stored with an image resized to the given dimensions as an attachment. * Email an to an email address and have the data show directly on your Tumblr account. Email is a big part of a lot of people's workflow, and I love the idea of building hooks on top of it -- a good email client is pretty much a given regardless of whether someone is on their smart phone, computer, or whatever. I still see HTTP as a big part of the equation, but with SMTP services performing more and more interesting actions behind the scenes.
AngryParsley 15y ago
The SMTP standard is complicated and crazy. RJBS from Pobox does a good job of scaring anyone thinking of writing an SMTP client or server: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JENdgiAPD6c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JENdgiAPD6c
- BenjaminCoe 15y ago
  I'm not going to argue against the fact that email is complicated and scary, I think this relates to the fact that it's been here forever. RFC821 and RFC822 dating from, what, the late 70s? It's these same facts: * The protocols have been around forever. * The protocols have been so widely adopted (2.9 billion, BILLION, email accounts worldwide). * It's not going anywhere. That I think make it worth the pain.

4 ms·

Move over HTTP it's SMTP's Turn to Shine

17 points by BenjaminCoe 15y ago

pan69 15y ago
Interesting article. However, I would have liked if the author would have gone more in-depth on what type of applications could be build on top of SMTP by giving some examples and why SMTP would be more beneficial than e.g. HTTP for those applications.
- BenjaminCoe 15y ago
  Hey, I don't mind going into some more detail here: With attachments.me, we've been looking at using special ephemeral email addresses for categorization: * You can post to an email address with your company name and a folder in it, and the attachment will automatically be categorized within that folder. Here's some other ideas: * Email an image to an email address, with dimensions in the body, the email is stored with an image resized to the given dimensions as an attachment. * Email an to an email address and have the data show directly on your Tumblr account. Email is a big part of a lot of people's workflow, and I love the idea of building hooks on top of it -- a good email client is pretty much a given regardless of whether someone is on their smart phone, computer, or whatever. I still see HTTP as a big part of the equation, but with SMTP services performing more and more interesting actions behind the scenes.
AngryParsley 15y ago
The SMTP standard is complicated and crazy. RJBS from Pobox does a good job of scaring anyone thinking of writing an SMTP client or server: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JENdgiAPD6c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JENdgiAPD6c
- BenjaminCoe 15y ago
  I'm not going to argue against the fact that email is complicated and scary, I think this relates to the fact that it's been here forever. RFC821 and RFC822 dating from, what, the late 70s? It's these same facts: * The protocols have been around forever. * The protocols have been so widely adopted (2.9 billion, BILLION, email accounts worldwide). * It's not going anywhere. That I think make it worth the pain.