> So many possibilities? There is nothing here that couldn't be achieved by having the user click on a link.
Because its machine parseable, it makes a lot of presentation options available that aren't available when you rely on a standard hyperlink without a data format with a standardized identification of the requested action.
> And he's right, it does make phishing easier.
Well, that depends on what the requirements are to have the client present the actions from the schemas: the current Google requirements, I would say, do not make phishing easier. You must register with Google for the schemas in the email you send to be recognized in Google products (e.g., Gmail) [1], and the registration is per-set-of-emails, and fairly specific as to the content, and appears to be manually reviewed [2].
>Because its machine parseable, it makes a lot of presentation options available that aren't available when you rely on a standard hyperlink without a data format with a standardized identification of the requested action.
You're right: this addition turns email into a data or event queue of sorts with standardized actions that can be performed on it. I like it. Given that email is one of the few non vendor-locked communication technologies we have and we already have a lot of infrastructure to deliver it reliably, this seems a promising evolution path.
I'd like to see something similar for IM: currently SMS is the only open standard for instant messaging, and any other option locks you into either a platform or a specific client, which the other person will probably not use.
> currently SMS is the only open standard for instant messaging
XMPP is an open standard (through IETF RFCs and related standards) for messaging and presence whose motivating use case was instant messaging: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMPP
Just like short sellers, we need these naysayers to keep us grounded. :) Yes, I choose to see the positive possibilities and the opportunities that show up thanks to our beloved naysayers.
No. It's more that there are so many positive possibilities yet a large group of people still choose to exploit them to make themselves money by harming others and end up breaking things for everyone else.
The whole history of modern operating systems and the Web is the example of that. Think of all the amazing and useful things that could be (and have been) done had there was no Data Execution Prevention or Same-Origin Policy or any other limit introduced because of security.
Being an open format that can be implemented by any other mail client is, in my opinion, an important part of the feature, especially for those of us who don't use Gmail.
