Why wrap @ 80?

[gabriel]

On April 23, 2004 05:49 pm, James Knott wrote:
> Noah John Gellner wrote:
> > Why do we wrap text at 80 columns on TLUG, and elsewhere on the Net for
> > that matter? I know that if your mailreader doesn't autowrap it can be
> > unpleasant to read, but don't the vast majority of readers wrap? The
> > advantage of not wrapping is that fwds, replies, and follow-ups don't
> > get funky formatting due to the hard carriage returns.
> >
> Well, that would go back to the 80 column IBM punch cards.  The 80
> column "standard" was then applied to printers and terminals.

sorry to rain on everyone's history less (as interesting as it is... i had no 
idea this issue went so far back)  i have to ask.  when then are we going to 
abandon this very, very old obsolete standard?  i understand that there's 
still a great many users on this list and elsewhere using mutt and pine etc. 
but why don't those programs compensate for 80+ character lines?  wouldn't 
this help the rest of us get out of this nearly century-old restriction?

-- 
a moment of joy in a lifetime of suffering...  take it, while you can
	- abassador londo molari, babylon 5

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