Re: Changing the default for `send-mail-function'

[Tim Cross]

On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 1:17 AM, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <address@hidden> wrote:
> Tim Cross <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> We know the change will not affect windows users as I believe the
>> default for that platform is not changing. It probably won't affect
>> OSX users either.
>
> No, the default changed for all architectures.
>
> --
> (domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
>  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/
>

Oh, OK. I thought it was going to be configured on Windows systems to
use the user's default mail client. This was the previous default for
win32 wasn't it? If so, I don't see why it should be changed for that
platform. Those who want to use emacs for mail can change the default
to smtpmail and for those who do not, emacs will use the native
configured mail client the user is use to (i.e. when sending a bug
report or some other mail related action).

While I can understand the argument to change the default on systems
wherre it had previously been the local MTA because of misconfigured
MTAs and the need to support a mobile computing paradigm, I find it
much harder to see why the default needs to be changed on wind32,
where the default mail client is far less likely to be misconfigured
and more likely to be configured to support a mobile environment if
required. Changing the default also forces users who don't use emacs
as their mail client to now configure it as a client for infrequently
used actions, such as submitting a bug report and use a client
interface they may not be as comfortable with compared to the previous
experience of having the text of the bug report placed within the mail
client you were familiar with and being able to use mail related
functionality without requiring additional effort to configure.

If the only reason to change this default on this platform is to be
consistent with other platforms, I think that is a mistake.

There are lots of people who do not use emacs as their mail client. I
suspect this number has increased as the number of users have
increased that use imap/pop to manage their mail. When I've asked
users why they don't use emacs as their mail client, the frequent
response is because they don't like the 'freezes' that occur when
emacs is checking large remote pop/imap servers etc.

Tim