GNKSA Evaluation Form 2.05 Product Name : MS Outlook Express Product Version : 5.00.2314.1300 Tested on platform : Windows NT 4.0 (SP5) Available for platforms: Windows 95/98/NT Evaluation date : 07/27/1999 Evaluated by : Adam Bailey Conclusion ========== MS Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 fails to satisfy some basic GNKSA requirement(s), hence does NOT qualify for the Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval. Summary ======= Pass Fail Total Pass/Fail% MUSTs 30 9 39 77%/23% SHOULDs 10 17 27 37%/63% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 77%M %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 37%S [GNKSA Score-O-Meter] Details ======= Regarding the strict GNKSA requirements (MUSTs), MS Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 FAILS on the following points: 2a Does not provide a clear, separate command for posting a new article 6a Does not handle Followup-To: poster correctly 6c Fails to use groups in Newsgroups in the absence of Followup-To 11a Does not require a non-empty, user-specified subject 11b Will not refuse to post articles without subject 12b Fails to refuse to post messages with syntactically incorrect From: 16a Does not warn when posting an empty article 16c Does not warn when posting quoted text only 17 Can encrypt or encode messages into oblivion by default MS Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 violates `soft' GNKSA requirements (SHOULDs) in the following way: 3b Does not warn when posting to a large number of groups 3c Fails to encourage setting a Followup-To on large crossposts 7e Fails to omit `broken' Message-IDs. 9a Does not support mailing instead after following up 9b Does not support posting instead after replying 9d Mail message not preceded by notification when posted and mailed 10d Does not omit (proper) signatures from quoted text 10e Does not let the user indicate which part to followup to 13b Does not enable users to supersede their own articles 14a May cause posting mangled articles 14b Fails to warn for excessively long lines 14c Refuses to post articles containing long lines 14d Does not support rewrapping quoted text correctly 15a Does not use or support standard signature delimiter 15b Does not warn on, or refuse, excessive signatures 16b Does not refuse posting an empty article 16d Does not refuse to post quoted text only Additional Comments: 1d/e Not shown in program's preview pane. User must open the article into its own window. 2a Ctrl-N (ambiguously) starts a "new message"; what message it is is governed by accidental context. 3b A crosspost of up to 20 groups was tested. 3c During testing, a followup's newsgroup list was truncated after 244 characters, requiring the splitting (and invalidating) of a newsgroup. This limitation was not present for the original posting, which used the same newsgroup list as 3b, above. 5a Reliable reports indicate that this client changes the 'Re: ' prefix in certain localized versions to 'Sv: ' (or other prefixes in other localities), thus breaking subject lines. This was not independently verified by the evaluator, and thus was not held against the US client in this evaluation. 6a Followup is directed both to group AND to poster, mimicing the behavior of "Mail-Copies-To: poster|always" 6c Newsgroup list is truncated after 244 chars (cf. 3c) 10a This client positions the cursor at the top of the message, followed by an empty line, the signature, another empty line, and then the quoted text. This encourages an unpopular and often messy style of adding new text before quoted text, instead of below it. 11a Presents user with a dialog recommending against blank subject (which can be permanently dismissed). Unable to verify that article was posted without subject, as evaluator does not have access to a single news server which will allow it without generating a '441 - invalid article format' error (which would seem to confirm that this client attempted to do such). 12b Warned user that syntactically invalid email address appeared to be invalid (in this case, a username only), but did not prevent posting. 12c As per warning mentioned in 12b, client appears to be attempting to ensure that email address is valid, even if it fails to force the issue. 14b Long lines cannot be posted using this client. 14c Silently wraps all articles, regardless of user's intentions. 15a Although this client inserts a proper signature delimiter before the user-supplied signature, the trailing space is eliminated by the client during posting. This is probably a bug, since the client knew enough to use the proper delimeter in the first place. 15b Presents a warning and truncates a signature after 3990 characters or 1366 lines (whichever comes first). In the evaluator's opinion, despite this warning, it allowed several pages of text, which is more than excessive. 16b Although appearing empty in client, external views of test article showed three lines. These three phantom lines also served to avoid server's empty article prohibition. 17 Can be configured to send all posts in HTML format, without further user confirmation/intervention. Checklist ========= (M)UST / (S)HOULD 1) Displays all essential header information Software clearly displays: [Y] a) Article's author (From) M [Y] b) Article's Subject M [Y] c) List of groups posted to (Newsgroups) M [Y] d) Where (and how) to direct followups (Followup-To) M [Y] e) Where to reply to if not the From-address (Reply-To) M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 2) Provides clear, separate commands for new posting, followup, and e-mail reply [N] a) for posting a new article M [Y] b) for posting a followup article M [Y] c) for replying by e-mail M [Y] d) Uses standard terminology S [Y] e) Avoids ambiguous terminology S [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 3) Provides cross-posting functionality [Y] a) Allows specifying multiple groups M [N] b) Warns about, or prevents, posting to large numbers of groups S [N] c) Strongly encourages setting Followup-To: on large crossposts S (`Y' if large crosspostings are disallowed) [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 4) Allows users to change essential headers [Y] a) Allows editing Subject at all times during composition M [Y] b) Allows specifying new Subject of at least 70 characters M [Y] c) Allows setting "Followup-To: poster" M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 5) Ensures followups and e-mail replies contain a correct Subject [Y] a) Prepends "Re: " if (and only if) not already present M [Y] b) Preserves entire original Subject (modulo minor repairs) M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 6) Directs followups to the correct newsgroups [N] a) Initiates e-mail reply rather than a followup posting on "Followup-To: poster", clearly informing the user M [Y] b) Posts to groups in Followup-To if present M [N] c) Posts to groups in Newsgroups otherwise M [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 7) Make sure followups contain valid References [Y] a) Creates References header with Message-ID of original article as the last element M [Y] b) Includes last three References from original M [Y] c) Ensures References will fit in 998 characters M [Y] d) Keep as many References from original as fit S [N] e) Does not propagate broken Message-IDs in original References S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 8) Direct e-mail replies to the correct address [Y] a) Uses Reply-To if present M [Y] b) Uses From address otherwise M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 9) Allow the user to change her mind about whether to post or mail (or do both) and behave if doing both [N] a) Allows users to change their mind and mail rather than post after having initiated a followup message S [N] b) Allows users to change their mind and post rather than mail after having initiated a reply message S [Y] c) Does not offer both posting and mailing as default behaviour M [N] d) Inserts a notification that the message was posted as well as mailed in the e-mail copy when both posting and mailing a followup article S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 10) Provide adequate quotation and attribution facilities [Y] a) Allows including quoted original M [Y] b) Clearly distinguishes quoted material M [Y] c) Prefixes quoted material with `>'/`> ' S [N] d) Omits correctly delimited signatures from quoted material S [N] e) Provides a means of indicating which part(s) to followup to S [Y] f) Attribution line containing original author precedes quotes M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 11) Provide a user-specified "Subject: " header [N] a) Requires non-empty, user-specified Subject for new articles M [N] b) Refuses posting articles without, or with an empty, Subject M [Y] c) Does not provide default Subject if user did not set one M [Y] d) Allows changing the Subject at any time while editing M [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 12) Provide a valid "From: " header [Y] a) Sets "From: " header to syntactically valid e-mail address M [N] b) Refuses posting articles without a syntactically valid "From: " header M [Y] c) Uses correct e-mail addresses (valid and belonging to the user) only, as far as it can possibly know S [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 13) Allow users to both cancel and supersede their own articles (and _no_ others!) [Y] a) Allows cancelling articles S [N] b) Allows superseding articles S [Y] c) As far as possible, does not allow cancelling or superseding other peoples' articles M [Y] d) Uses standard terminology S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 14) Try to respect the 80-character line-length convention [N] a) Articles are posted as edited, with linebreaking intact S [N] b) Warns about lines over 80 characters S [N] c) Does not refuse to post articles containing long lines S [N] d) Allows rewrapping quoted text S [Y] e) Enforces formatting requirements on article after external editing (`Y' if there is no support for external editors) S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 15) Separate signatures correctly, and don't use excessive ones [N] a) Uses (and enforces) standard signature delimiter S [N] b) Warns against or refuses to use excessive signatures S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 16) Try to prevent obvious user errors [N] a) Warns when attempting to post empty articles M [N] b) Refuses posting empty articles S [N] c) Warns when post articles containing quoted material only M [N] d) Refuses posting quoted-text-only articles S [Y] e) Warns against posting multiple copies (`Y' if impossible) M [Y] f) Prevents multiple posting entirely S [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 17) Post human-readable articles unless ordered otherwise [N] Does not (and can not) encode or encrypt articles unless on explicit user demand M [N] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 18) Provide self-protection [Y] Allows filtering out annoying articles (killing) S [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M 19) Be kind to servers, leave room for others [Y] a) Does not unnecessarily open multiple connections M [Y] b) Does not generate excessive server load otherwise M [Y] PASS: Satisfies all MUSTs M