This brilliant bit of marketing appears to be doing quite well in the twit-o-sphere. The cause is getting Microsoft to support "standards" by using the IE8 engine to render HTML email in Outlook, instead of the Word engine, which has been in there since 2007. Behind this movement is the "grassroots" Email Standards Project, which is apparently composed of one email marketing firm and two freelance designers. Judging by this deluge of copypasta, the sheeple are overwhelmingly supportive.

HTML email exists by means of MIME, a standard that allows literally any kind of data to be embedded in an email but makes no mention of HTML. Thus, HTML email is itself only a standard in as much as FORTRAN email is a standard. On the other hand, RFC2046 does explicitly endorse RFC1896, which discourages HTML email in favor of "enriched text", which is essentially a small subset of HTML that suits the needs of most human communication and is easy and safe to implement.

Now, I'm a pragmatist and if HTML email works for your business, and people like to get it, as they evidently do, I say go right ahead and use it. However, you do not get to beat people over the head with the standards stick when they pull the rug out from under you and interfere with your god given right to make money.

Even if you could dig up some document decreeing that Microsoft must make your job easier by supporting this and that in their software, that is no particular reason that the rest of us should rally behind you. Standards are not gospel. Their legitimacy stems from the value they provide people. Web standards (mostly) benefit everyone and that is why I would emplore everyone to support them. If HTML email disappeared tomorrow, despite its apparent effectiveness as a marketing tool, it wouldn't be missed.

So, you and the other email marketers can lean on Microsoft and see if they care. Everyone else might consider lending their support to a more worthy cause.

Update: I will post some links on this topic and then move on to other battles.

This is the grand total of work that the W3C has put towards a potential HTML email standard. A few people meet up to decide that an email variant of HTML should be standardized with features that benefit users. Nothing is done. One of them starts the Email Standards Project, which is not met with enthusiasm since it is solely concerned with email marketing.

This is a long blog post by the champion of the cause himself about how all the big software vendors should come together to make his job easier.

And this is Microsoft calling bullshit:

The Email Standards Project, which developed the website that promotes the current Twitter campaign, is backed by the maker of “email marketing campaign” software.
...
There is no widely-recognized consensus in the industry about what subset of HTML is appropriate for use in e-mail for interoperability. The “Email Standards Project” does not represent a sanctioned standard or an industry consensus in this area.

I'm glad they had the balls to do that.