Re: Intelligence in standards-based software

> I am beginning to understand that there is a need for
> a new golden rule:
> 
> (n) Do not specify standards which require any kind
>      of intelligence of the software using it.

If that were a rule, very few of our protocols would pass muster.

I think you are grossly overexaggerating the problems with multipart/
alternative.   As far as I can tell, the biggest problem with 
multipart/alternative is that the set of attributes on which a 
choice between alternatives might be based is extensible - it includes
not only content-type and its parameters, but also content-language,
and perhaps other attributes not yet invented.   It's difficult to 
imagine how to write a user agent that can effectively make choices 
between alternatives based on attributes whose syntax and semantics 
are not yet defined.

Keith