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        !            11: \begin{document}
        !            12: 
        !            13: \title{The Rand MH Message Handling System:\\
        !            14:        Myths about MH}
        !            15: \author{Marshall T.~Rose\\
        !            16:        Northrop Research and Technology Center\\
        !            17:        One~Research Park\\
        !            18:        Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA  90274}
        !            19: \date{\ifdraft \versiondate/\\ Version \versiontag/\else \today\fi}
        !            20: \maketitle
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        !            22: This document (version \versiontag/)
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        !            24: 
        !            25: \begin{abstract}
        !            26: \noindent Mail handlers, like text editors, text formatters,
        !            27: programming languages, and computer-communication network technologies,
        !            28: have become the basis of religious wars.
        !            29: Although the UCI version of the Rand Message Handling System is well beloved
        !            30: (and deservedly so) by its disciples,
        !            31: there remain those who spread non-truths about \MH/.
        !            32: This document seeks to set the record straight.
        !            33: 
        !            34: Of course,
        !            35: the gentle reader should understand that the author uses this forum primarily
        !            36: as a non-violent release of hostility.
        !            37: Note however,
        !            38: that this document is not a case of ``me against them''.
        !            39: Rather it is a case of ``us against them''.
        !            40: There are a lot of \MH/ supporters,
        !            41: though
        !            42: I don't pretend that this paper represents anyone's views other than my own.
        !            43: Furthermore,
        !            44: I only write like this when I'm upset.
        !            45: As such,
        !            46: this paper shouldn't be taken {\em too\/} seriously.
        !            47: \end{abstract}
        !            48: 
        !            49: \bop\pagestyle{plain}\pagenumbering{arabic}
        !            50: 
        !            51: \section*     {The Plain Facts}
        !            52: I really hate writing, especially documentation.
        !            53: I don't mind having written so much, but I don't like writing.
        !            54: 
        !            55: To put the reader in the right mood,
        !            56: let us recall the words of Lord John Whorfin:
        !            57: 
        !            58: \begin{verse}
        !            59: Sealed with a curse,\\
        !            60: \qquad as sharp as a knife;\\
        !            61: doomed is your soul,\\
        !            62: \qquad and damned is your life.
        !            63: \end{verse}
        !            64: 
        !            65: This is my standard response to people who want more documentation on \MH/.
        !            66: The \MH/ documentation set is way too large as it is.
        !            67: 
        !            68: Now with that out of the way,
        !            69: onto the plain facts.
        !            70: 
        !            71: \begin{enumerate}
        !            72: \item  Speed versus Performance\hbreak
        !            73: For some reason,
        !            74: people think that \MH/ is {\em slow}.
        !            75: This is not true.
        !            76: 
        !            77: It is true that \MH/ is {\em slower\/} than some monolithic user agents.
        !            78: The reason for this is that since each \MH/ command is a \unix/ program,
        !            79: there is a larger initial cost for running each \MH/ program.
        !            80: Of course,
        !            81: once an \MH/ program has loaded its state information,
        !            82: it can execute quite quickly.
        !            83: In particular,
        !            84: a lot of time has gone into tuning \MH/ towards fast execution.
        !            85: (Everyone owes a hearty thanks to Van Jacobson who did most of this work.)
        !            86: 
        !            87: It is important to distinguish between how fast a system runs,
        !            88: what work that system does,
        !            89: and the ratio between the two.
        !            90: Although \MH/ may not be fast,
        !            91: it does perform well.
        !            92: 
        !            93: \item  Hardware/Software Dependencies\hbreak
        !            94: For some reason,
        !            95: people think that \MH/ is riddled with \vax/, \bsd/~\unix/, and/or \SendMail/
        !            96: dependencies.
        !            97: Nothing could be further from the truth.
        !            98: 
        !            99: \MH/ does run on all \bsd/ releases of \unix/ since 4.1\bsd/.
        !           100: It also runs on V7~\unix/ and various \xenix/ variants of \unix/.
        !           101: Recently, the \MH/ distribution has taken to supporting the AT\&T variant of
        !           102: \unix/, System~5.
        !           103: \MH/ does not have support for System~3.
        !           104: If someone would like to port \MH/ to System~3,
        !           105: please let me know.
        !           106: 
        !           107: \MH/ does run on Digital Equipment Corporation's \vax/-family of computers
        !           108: (providing that host is running a \unix/ mentioned above).
        !           109: It also runs on a large number of other hosts,
        !           110: such as SUNs, Integrated Solutions, Pyramid-90x's, Gould FireBreather's, 
        !           111: ALTOS's, 3B2's, \pdp/-11's, and so on.
        !           112: 
        !           113: \MH/ does run with \SendMail/ as its message transport agent.
        !           114: It also runs with \MMDFI/ and \MMDFII/,
        !           115: and provides it's own stand-alone delivery system with \UUCP/ support
        !           116: (e.g., \pgm{rmail\/}).
        !           117: Furthermore,
        !           118: if your host can make an SMTP connection to another host,
        !           119: you don't even need to use any of these programs.
        !           120: You can simply instruct \MH/ to open an SMTP connection,
        !           121: using a flexible search-list of service hosts (and network),
        !           122: to any service host accepting mail.
        !           123: The bottom line is that \MH/ can really run with any 822--based message
        !           124: transport agent.
        !           125: 
        !           126: \item  The BBoards channel and distribution lists\hbreak
        !           127: For some reason,
        !           128: people think that the UCI BBoards facility is good only for local receipt of
        !           129: BBoards.
        !           130: It is true that the UCI BBoards facility provides excellent support for local
        !           131: BBoard subscribers.
        !           132: However,
        !           133: the UCI BBoards facility also supports continued distribution.
        !           134: 
        !           135: The BBoards channel does both local delivery and remote distribution for lists.
        !           136: For local delivery,
        !           137: it delivers messages into maildrops in a spool area.
        !           138: In addition,
        !           139: it allows the \MH/ user to shorten the typein of distribution list addresses.
        !           140: For remote distribution,
        !           141: it does the usual list exploding and error trapping.
        !           142: \end{enumerate}
        !           143: 
        !           144: \section*     {The End}
        !           145: That's it for now.
        !           146: 
        !           147: \bibliography{myths}
        !           148: 
        !           149: \showsummary
        !           150: 
        !           151: \end{document}

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