IPP Mail Archive: IPP> Re: What is it we really need?
IPP> Re: What is it we really need?
Keith Moore (
moore@cs.utk.edu)
Mon, 06 Jan 1997 20:45:12 -0500
> How can the squeezed, embedded server code in a printer box ever be a
> match for the kind of service a "print server implemented on a computer"
> can provide? We just saw an example of why a print server trapped inside
> a printer box can never match a print server inside a computer: The
> "printer" guys have to laboriously write ancient C code on top of TCP,
> while the "computer" guys have lavish tools and technology, like ISAPI,
> ActiveX, Java, Denali, etc. available on their "computer" platform.
Sounds like the printer guys have it easier in some ways.
The more layers there are, the more things that can fail, the harder
they are to diagnose, the less portable the result, etc.
If I can write a lpr server in 1000 lines of C code, why in the
world should I care about these other things, at least for the purpose
of printing?
Agreed that a print server implemented on a computer probably still
has some advantages...but the main reasons are that it has a lot
of secondary storage and a flexible authentication/authorization system
that can easily be shared among several applications.
Keith