Low-level XML Protocol activity announced by the XCP Consortium

Many of you know me as an editor of the XHTML recommendations.  In 
addition to that work, I have been working with a separate group of 
people on an exciting new XML-based protocol - XCP (the XCL Control 
Protocol).  That work has finally matured enough that we have made it 
public and are actively seeking input.  Here is a excerpt from the web site:

    XCP - the XML Control Protocol - is a drop in replacement for
    traditional Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP. XCP has many
    advantages, some of which are outlined in our rationale section.
    With the advent of XCP/IP, connection-oriented networking will
    finally move from the legacy environment of inscrutable bits and
    bytes to a structured, human-readable world relying upon XML.  XCP
    is the first 4th Generation Protocol, or 4GP.  It is designed for a
    networking environment that is very fast and very reliable - the
    Internet of today!

We understand that the TAG has examined the use of HTTP as a substrate 
protocol (c.f.:  http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues.html#HTTPSubstrate-16 
- "HTTPSubstrate-16: Should HTTP be used as a substrate protocol? Does 
W3C agree with RFC 3205?")  XCP is in fact directly targeted at being 
such a protocol.  However, it is not completely clear to us how this 
will dovetail with your existing "Architecture of the World Wide Web" 
document.  We see from the document (at 
http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/#xml-formats) that you envision evolution 
like this - and we think that our approach is consistent with your 
guidelines, as well as with those from the IETF's document "Guidelines 
for the Use of XML within IETF Protocols" 
(http://www.imc.org/ietf-xml-use/xml-guidelines-07.txt).  However, we 
would like to see a deeper focus on XML-based protocols in your document 
- you can consider that a last call comment if you like.

I guess I would appreciate it if the TAG, in its role as keepers of the 
internet architecture, could examine the XCP architecture at 
http://www.x-cp.org and think about ways that it can be enhanced to 
become more consistent with the W3C's view of the web.  Think of this as 
a "last call" period for XCP - we are putting together sample 
implementations and getting people to deploy it now, but it is not too 
late to ensure we cleanly support the TAG's vision of the Internet - and 
vice-versa.

-- 
Shane P. McCarron                          
Lead Editor, W3C HTML Working Group