--- a/future.roff	Mon Jul 09 17:22:26 2012 +0200
+++ b/future.roff	Mon Jul 09 17:40:08 2012 +0200
@@ -1,69 +1,130 @@
-.H0 "Future of mmh
-.P
-
-
-.U2 "Summary
-.P
-
+.H0 "Summary
 .P
-The far most difficult improvements, but at the same time the most
-valuable ones.
-
-.P
-Although I did only a small part of the draft handling improvement,
-I value it as an important part.
-
+This document describes and explains my work on mmh.
+I have streamlined the project by removing programs, facilities
+and options that diverted from the main task of mmh, being a MUA.
+I have modernized the code base removing obsolete functions and
+activating modern features per default.
+Further more, I improved the style by refactoring clumpsy code
+and by defining or exploiting clear concepts.
+All my work was motivated by Antoine de Saint Exupery's well-known
+statement:
+.[
+antoine de saint exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars (1939)
+.]
 .QS
 It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing
 more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.
 .QE
-antoine de saint exupery: Wind, Sand and Stars (1939)
-
 .P
-talks I've given
-
-
-
+In contrast to the common expectations, I have hardly added new features.
+I regard my improvements in selecting the relevant set of existing
+features and exploiting the concepts more thoroughly.
+I believe, the result is a system simpler and clearer for both
+developing and using, without lacking important functionality.
 
 
-.U2 "Outlook
+.U2 "Work Left to Do
 .P
-
+The work done during the project is not finished.
+Several tasks are left to do, mainly the MIME integration.
 .P
-MIME Integration:
-user-visible access to whole messages and MIME parts are inherently
-different
-
-
+MIME handling is the most complex part of mmh and it requires
+general rework.
+The changes already done to it build upon the existing structure.
+Yet, MIME support is not truly integrated.
+For instance, accessing messages and accessing MIME parts of messages
+have inherently different concepts, although a single concept should
+cover both.
+The sequence notation should provide a way to address MIME parts directly.
+Furthermore, the sequence notation should be made more powerful in general.
+For instance, it is currently not possible to access the second last
+message in a given sequence.
+Displaying messages with
+.Pn show
+requires further rework.
+Encrypted messages, for example, should be decoded automatically
+and digital signatures should be verified on-the-fly.
+The whole task should be aligned with the common behavior of other
+mail clients.
+MH's unique features should not be lost, but the default should become
+less surprising.
+Transfer-decoding of the quoted text in replys and encoding of non-ASCII
+characters in message header fields like
+.Hd Subject
+remain unsolved.
+.P
+Besides MIME-related tasks, some tools were not worked on yet.
+Among them are
+.Pn dist ,
+.Pn rcvdist ,
+.Pn mark ,
+.Pn pick ,
+and
+.Pn sortm .
+Concerning
+.Pn sortm ,
+a threaded message view is completely missing to mmh, yet.
+.Pn pick
+could profit from message indexing.
+No research was performed in this field.
+.P
+The features most often asked for are Maildir and IMAP support.
+Yet, both of them collide with MH in the same fundamental way as
+different filesystem approaches would collide with Unix.
+Nevertheless, a storage back-end abstraction layer could provide
+a mapping from such back-ends to the MH storage format.
+Research in this area is highly appreciated.
 
 
 .U2 "Relationship to nmh
 .P
-.P
-Because of several circumstances, my experimental version is rather
-a fork today, although this may change again in the future.
-
+The mmh project started as an experimental version of nmh because the
+nmh community did not welcome my changes in the mainline version.
+To not slow my work down by the need to convince the community in
+discussions for each step I liked to take,
+I started to create an experimental version to convicce by demonstration
+of the result.
+My worked on mmh was independent of the nmh community.
+This enabled me to follow my vision straightly and thus produce
+a result of greater pureness.
 .P
-Although mmh bases on nmh, it is likely seen as a step backward.
-I agree.
-However, this step backward actually is a step forward,
-although in a different direction.
+Mmh shall be considered an inspiration for the future development of nmh.
+It shall show identify weak part of nmh and suggest possible
+improvements by change.
+It shall present a lean appearance that is simpler to understand
+and work with for developers and users.
+By all means shall my work on mmh improve nmh in some way.
+Improving nmh directly in the way I wanted was impossible for me
+due to personal and community-related circumstances.
+The mmh project is my way to offer my gifts though.
+.P
+During my work on mmh, the community of nmh suddenly became very active.
+They have worked on nmh in parallel to my work on mmh.
+There was no collaberation in our work, except that I have pulled some
+changes from nmh to mmh.
+Our work was motivated partly by similar and partly by different aims.
+Although some changes are common among both projects,
+fundamental differences exist.
+My experimental version thus more and more felt like being a fork.
+I am undecided how I like to have it.
+Yet, I am strongly convinced that most of the decisions taken in mmh
+were good to achieve my goals and I like to push the project even
+farther in this direction.
 
 
+.U2 "Weaknesses of My Work
 .P
-.\" Top candidate for the final sentence:
-This enabled me to follow my vision straightly and thus produce
-a result of greater pureness.
-
+not targeting on the right problems (maildir, imap)
 
-.U2 "Weaknesses of my Work
+.P
+refactoring requires testing, automated testing
+
 .P
-testing
-.P
-communication with nmh
+communication with nmh.
+worked behind closed doors, but no:
+talks I've given
+
 .P
 focus on myself.
 But: If good for me then also good for others.
-.P
-not targeting on the right problems (maildir, imap)
-.P