Re: Mnot's Pub/Sub for the Web

Matthew:
> My concern is that those caches and middle boxes are the very reason
> it's hard to implement anything new at the HTTP layer (either one).
> Some of those boxes are ossified around HTTP/1.0 and will never
> update; many probably implement an approximation of /1.1, but any
> message that isn't the exact flavour of /1.1 they've been coded to
> handle will make them explode. To the point that they don't read the
> version number, or sometimes even the entire method, in the request
> line.

Thank you for bringing this up!

Many of these boxes have never updated, but this HTTP upgrade will 
create a new business opportunity: dynamic proxies. These proxies will 
be able to cache dynamic state; not just static assets. You'll be able 
to cache JSON that's being collaboratively edited by 100 clients. If 
your WAN internet goes down, your users can still collaborate on your 
LAN, through this proxy!

This business opportunity will enable new middleboxes to be created and 
sold. They'll probably sit alongside the dumb old ones. That's ok, 
because the new protocol is just an extension of the old. Any middlebox 
can support any subset of features it wants to.