Harry,
I agree entirely with your arguments countering Larry Masinter's
original message. Larry had some excellent ideas, but your statements
make the issue (and the attendant problems) much clearer, IMHO.
Your final statment, though, compels me to respond with a comment,
particulary since we have tossed this subject around quite a bit
between you and I over the last year or two:
> Last year, before IPP was even a gleam in the PWG's eye, I proposed
> an encapsulation scheme - at that point - to associate information
> that would be needed for the Job MIB along with the Job during
> submission. The idea got a very cool reception. I thought, perhaps
> due to the fact that members who manage PDLs would rather extend
> their own. Perhaps my proposal appeared too much like an extension
> of "my" PDL (IPDS), or perhaps we just weren't ready for consensus on
> the need for a STANDARD means of associating Job information with the
> job?
My argument then is the same as it is now: Print Data is Print Data,
and Job Control is Job Control (protocol and parameters), and the
two should be separate in the requisite protocol transactions.
Munging the two together just causes all kinds of parsing problems
that usually end up impacting future extensions. A Client should be
able to say "Here's some print data, please print it this way for
such-and-such a person", and the Server should operate on that data,
often in a relatively opaque manner (assuming the "Server" is
architecturally separate from the RIP or similar imager).
Sure, both PostScript and PCL embed all kinds of stuff in the print
data stream...but I believe that's because there has never been a
STANDARD PRINTING PROTOCOL in the world that everyone could play to.
Sheesh, that's all I really want. A standard printing protocol.
It just doesn't seem like that's too much to strive for, given the
large body of experience in the Tower of Babel that has existed up
to now.
Ah, I feel better now. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
...jay
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