IPP Mail Archive: RE: Directory Entry Schema

RE: Directory Entry Schema

Jeff Copeland (jeff@boulder.qms.com)
Thu, 21 Nov 96 10:04:41 MST

>
> Scott,
>
> In my opinion subjective attributes are not very useful. Print quality,
> for example, is so subjective that 'high', 'medium', and 'low' just
> don't cut it. Also, a user's perception of 'high' or 'low' print
> quality evolves with the state of the art. Why not specify objective
> attributes like resolution, process (e.g. ink-jet, laser, etc.), color
> capability (e.g. monchrome, full process color, etc.)? Cost is also
> highly subjective (one man gathers what another man spills). Marketers
> are constantly manipulating cost-per-page estimates in order to
> position a product more competitively (some include only toner, some
> include other supplies as well). Costs also evolve very rapidly over
> time. Who would make these subjective judgements?
>
> My two cents per page :)
> Angelo Caruso
> Xerox Corp.

First, you can make cost objective by using the actual cost, if you're
in a commercial environment: e.g., at Kinko's, it's what the customer
gets charged. Otherwise, ignore it, or use an arbitrary measure ---
the 300 dpi monochrome is 25 units per page, but the 600dpi color is
150 units per page.

As I suggested yesterday during the conference call, there is a way
of overlaying the subjective and objective criteria. We provide
objective measures of resolution, colors, process, speed and cost.
Then, we can overlay those with a user or administrator programmable
high, medium, low measure. That is, we specify in the browser setup
what the allowable range is for each level. The H/M/L measure
can drift over time, as mean printer speed and quality increases,
by resetting those ranges in the browser setup.

We can also provide a single H/M/L "quality" (or pick a better
adjective) measure, where high is a combination of >600dpi + >2colors +
laser or dye sublimation, for example. This means the printer tells
us the objective measures, but the administrator's agent tells us
the subjective ones.