Re: transcoders bad

Would someone please explain to me how the "problem to be solved" is due 
to anything except transcoders abusing the boundaries of their business 
model?

Put another way: why should any mobile developer have to do anything 
differently, beyond telling a transcoder to leave them alone? What 
possible consideration should we be willing to concede on and spend 
resources to address here?

I promise that I am open to any legitimate answers to these questions.

Terren

Sean Owen wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 5:03 PM, Luca Passani <passani@eunet.no> wrote:
>> While I am here, I think it is a shame that W3C has accepted Novarra's
>> attempt to redefine the mobile web, and I can't believe that you are
>> supporting this with a straight face. Are you the same Sean Owen behind the
>> W3C Best Practices?
> 
> I am embarrassed to say I have not followed this group closely in the
> last few months. What are we talking about so I know what to be
> outraged by? :)
> 
> 
>> Look, the great majority of mobile site is built on top of UA detection. So,
>> a transcoder which runs all HTTP traffic and changes the UA is abusive and I
>> will tell the world that this is not acceptable no matter how much you keep
>> trying to mud the water.
> 
> Yeah I have come to understand your point. So, sure, send no-transform
> in all cases. User-Agent doesn't matter there. You want to send
> no-transform but also know how to customize the content, based on
> User-Agent, that will be sent straight back to the phone. You need to
> consult User-Agent. You don't want to consult X-Device-User-Agent.
> 
> It strikes me as quibbling, and I dismiss it, perhaps cold-heartedly,
> as "just two lines of code". I understand the position that you
> shouldn't have to do a single thing differently to appease these
> transcoders. I do think that, in the abstract, it is more logical for
> a transcoder to change the UA. I understand your practical argument
> against it.
> 
> I know am I a broken record now, but even if I shared your
> revolutionary spirit and indignation... and I am not unsympathetic...
> wouldn't you want to also solve your problem while decrying the
> tyrants? I think this doc is just trying to sketch a realistic
> solution. You may disagree on the details, yeah, that's OK. I think
> it's a shame to call it names though since I think it is a more
> sincere effort to solve problems for real developers. A professional
> working group does not have the same luxury of casting stones from a
> corner.
> 
> But I do...
> 
> Sean
>

Received on Tuesday, 5 August 2008 21:23:32 UTC