Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!dptg!rutgers!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncis.tis.llnl.gov!com.qz.se!JPALME From: JPALME@com.qz.se Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.x400 Subject: Notes from the Bari meeting of the ISO messaging group Message-ID: <456333@QZCOM> Date: 18 Oct 89 13:23:00 GMT References: <2931*grimm@darmstadt.gmd.dbp.de> Sender: root@ncis.tis.llnl.gov Reply-To: Jacob Palme QZ Distribution: inet Organization: The Internet Lines: 44 Approved: post-x400@tis.llnl.gov >X-Originator: Jacob Palme QZ You are right in that the two formats do not preclude each other. It is not very difficult to write a parsing program, which can parse strings in both formats and separate the different or-name components. So it is not at all unreasonable to expect messaging systems to be able to input or-names in both formats. The only problem is those systems which input or-names by a form- fill in method. Both the RARE and the Concise format, but especially the Concise format, requires that the messaging system can take as one alternative input format (not necessarily the only format) the string used in the RARE and Concise format. The main advantages with the concise format are: It does not contain very many concepts which normal non-expert people do not understand, like ";ADMD=". It contains, instead, mostly sequences which are natural to normal humans. Just like in mathematics, you can write 1 - = 1/2 2 it is natural to replace things written on succeeding lines to one line by "/", so use of "/" is intuitively natural and similar to normal postal addresses. The concise format intentionally uses very few funny characters. Of course, to a person who is an X.400 expert, the concise format is not good, because the X.400 structure is hidden. But the format is not intended for X.400 experts, it is intendend for ordinary humans. Compare the following two addresses: C=GB;ADMD="Gold 400";O="Nottingham University";S=Smith;G=Hugh /Hugh/Smith//Nottingham University//Gold 400/GB Then the second string will seem much more natural for a person who is not an expert on X.400. The format contains mostly concepts which are natural for such a person to think about, like "Hugh", "Smith", "Nottingham University", "GB".