None of the Above (was Re: Sendmail still default?)

[Matthew Garrett]

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 02:17:39PM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
> Matthew Garrett wrote:
> >Once you're beyond the typical desktop use case, then yes, an MTA 
> >probably makes sense. But that's not an argument for an MTA in the 
> >default desktop install.
> 
> OK, if you really are so elitist that you think typical users can't 
> figure out how to use standard programs, consider the case where you 
> install the software for one of your incapable friends or family members 
> and you'd like those impending failure warnings to come to you since the 
> user won't understand them anyway.

I'm pretty solidly of the opinion that email is nowhere near being the 
most sensible way to get important information to a typical desktop 
user. If a failure is important then the user needs to know about it as 
soon as possible - mail provides no guarantees about timely delivery. We 
have plenty of desktop infrastructure to give important alerts to users, 
we're just failing to do so.

-- 
Matthew Garrett | mjg59 at srcf.ucam.org