RE: Low-level XML Protocol activity announced by the XCP Consorti um

Shane,
 
I'd suggest that you also bring this exciting new protocol to the attention
of the XML Protocol working group - that said timing is everything and this
may be a little late (even if only a few hours).
 
I've not studied XCP in detail, but I'd be interested to know whether you
think it offers a solution to the problems of embedding XML documents in
XML. After-all what got would a successor to TCP be if it where not able to
convey such an important format.
 
Cheers
 
Stuart Williams


  _____  

From: www-tag-request@w3.org [mailto:www-tag-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of
Shane McCarron
Sent: 1 April 2004 16:41
To: www-tag@w3.org
Subject: 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
<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
<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
<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 <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