Re: Homogeneous IM&P vs. Heterogeneous IM&P

Dave,

This is a helpful way to describe the two possible scenarios, thanks.

My personal recollection was that we were always talking about case 2, 
since the aim was to apply them to the new protocols that IETF would 
develop (SIMPLE, APEX, PRIM and now XMPP). One might argue that a 
gateway specification between two existing systems is of no value at 
all. People can build such systems without a standardized mechanism, and 
indeed, people gateway between existing IM/P systems a lot today without 
using a CPIM spec.

-Jonathan R.

Dave Crocker wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> Perhaps there is an easy clarification to the confusion about the goals of
> CPIM.  It continues to look as if it has been trying to serve two, very
> different masters.
> 
> The Heterogenous Master connects together truly independent -- ie,
> heterogeneous -- services. It would be like connecting together Internet
> mail, X.400, MCI Mail, DEC Mail, Lotus Mail, etc. Each was independently
> developed. Different protocols and different data formats. The common
> semantics is all that can be gatewayed. There must be *some* common
> semantics, or else there is nothing to gateway. However, the common
> semantics are pretty limited.
> 
> The Homogeneous Master uses different transport mechanisms for a single
> service. In other words, the service really is end-to-end -- ie, homogeneous
> -- at the user object level. This would be like connecting together a
> variety of services that relay RFC822/2822 message objects, as was done for
> Internet, CSNet and Bitnet email.
> 
> The Heterogeneous Master gets to dictate nothing to the end-points. The
> Homogeneous Master can dictate anything in the format it wants to.
> 
> I believe that PIDF and MsgFmt are intended to serve Master Two. And that's
> fine.
> 
> But CPIM, itself -- now, impp-im and impp-pres -- is intended to serve the
> Homogeneous Master.
> 
> It will help working group discussions enormously to be clear about this
> distinction and to use it carefully when discussing things.
> 
> d/

-- 
Jonathan D. Rosenberg, Ph.D.                72 Eagle Rock Ave.
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