[jeff k]

Someone sends me a .dat file

I have no idea what that is or how to open it.

(it's a store/ vendor sending me a price list)

I cannot seem to get a software to open it, thanks.

[Spheric Harlot]

http://www.joshjacob.com/mac-development/TNEF3.2.0.dmg

[jeff k]

S

have your been hacked?

I just see a download with no explanation.

[Spheric Harlot]

My apologies.

I figured it would be enough to just post the solution to your problem.

That application is what you're looking for.

[jeff k]

Thanks S, worked. So weird, why would someone send this? It confusing, it actually has the pdf in some list at bottom.
I put this app in my app folder, but as years go by, I hope I remember what it does. They should have named it more like .dat opener or something.

[Spheric Harlot]

Have you tried just googling "winmail.dat"?

It's what happens when a poorly configured Outlook mingles attachments.

[jeff k]

Well this client, did send the pdf version before I even got you nice link. But your link worked Tnef
I don't know what winmail means.

I thought it was just one page of a rate sheet in some new app. I never heard of.

What did she send? a folder?

[Spheric Harlot]

That should've read "mangles", not "mingles".

I have no idea what she sent. Run it through TNEF's Enough to see.

[Nergol]

.Dat File...

[P]

Outlook is a funny program. It originated in the late nineties, when Microsoft's strategy of Embrace-Extend-Extinguish was at its worst, and Outlook was no exception. Winmail.dat was a file that included some information such as fonts and styles (bold/italic etc) and optionally all attached files. The idea was that anyone would be able to read the mail, but "extra features" - notably including attachments - would be only for other Outlook users, thereby making everyone use Outlook. This didn't work out so well, but whatever garbage they hid in the Outlook code still rears its ugly head sometimes. In certain circumstances, Outlook will still include a winmail.dat file, which may or may not include an attachment. TNEF is an application that will grab the attached file inside the winmail.dat, if there is one.

I just read this piece over at Ars about how MS is in trouble with mobile browsing, because Webkit is so dominant in mobile browsing that noone bothers testing their mobile sites on IE, and I felt a little sympathetic towards them. Good thing this post came along to clear that up.

[jmiddel]

Empathic, perhaps, sympathetic, no. MS has insisted on going its very own way in browser development, ignoring standards and forcing web designers to accomodate to this problem app. I wish IE dead. Windows users have far better choices.

[P]

It's not about IE on Windows desktop, it's about IE on Windows Mobile, which cannot be replaced. The problem is mainly prefixed CSS properties. Before a CSS property is standardized, browser vendors can support their own proposed variant with a prefix - the prefix -webkit in case of Safari and Chrome. Since Webkit has been a driving force in CSS development, the Webkit proposal often wins out. At this point everyone who made a CSS page is supposed to drop the -webkit prefix of the properties and use the non-prefixed variant, expecting everyone to support that one the way Webkit did previously. This has not happened, especially with mobile sites, where Webkit is some 98% of the users (the default on both iOS and Android), and this means that MS has real troubles competing. Either they implement support for the -webkit prefixed properties, which is in violation of the standard, or they look like the browser doesn't support a lot of modern properties.

[Spheric Harlot]

Well, the foot is on the other hand now, ain't it! HaHAAH!