dns media type registration tree

[Larry Masinter]

My personal observation is that most of the reasons why people
deploy software that uses unregistered MIME types won't
be adding a DNS-based tree. Things like:

* Don't want to bother telling anyone else about the MIME
  type, they'll find out soon enough
* Don't want to reveal product information before product
  ships
* Can't figure out what the forms or terms mean, hard to figure
  out what a good example might be.
* Confusion about registration of file extensions and MIME
  types

While the current form for submitting a MIME type registration
is a great improvement on what we had before, the registration
process is still pretty mysterious, not particularly well
advertised, etc., hard to figure out...

I don't think adding a DNS tree will do more to address these
problems.... it just makes the situation more complicated,
precedents less reliable, and confuse people even more.

What do engineers who are developing new file formats need?
Probably some way of registering a MIME type and file extension
and Macintosh format/creator IDs at the same time, and some
questionaire that leads them through development of the
answers, let's them get reviews from their management, etc.

Look at the process from the point of view of the people
who we want to use it.

Larry