Bob,
> Why do you feel we need machine-readable components in an email msg?
>> [rgh] My intent was to propose a simple solution for Machine Consumable
> content for "mailto", not to be an advocate. I hoped to hear a discussion
> of the pro's and con's on the DL.
You're looking for pro's and con's of packaging binary notification
information in an email message? Ok, I'll toss out a "con" for you:
It's not all that useful.
I'll stop just short of saying it's utterly useless--I'll let someone
else on the list say that. ;-)
> ... Why would anyone would *demand* relatively
> real-time notifications for print jobs outside of a firewall, anyway?
> ...
>> [rgh} Suppose that you are printing from your office to a printer at home
> and you've put your home behind a firewall. You might want to know that
> Printing has completed successfully and call home if a problem occurs. The
> "mailto" Delivery Method would be a good choice in this case.
An email in this case would be most appropriate. But that email
would be entirely useful and productive as plain simple text, and
not binary.
Or would you disagree?
Bob, again, with all due respect, the PWG consists mainly of engineering
talent. As such, we often dream up (and worse yet, propose) all kinds of
solutions to problems that don't exist, or at least are not very well defined.
(For me, the problem must also have a well described business case, but
I know there are several PWG members who don't share that view... ;-)
IMHO, the primary question on the table is:
What compelling scenarios exist that drive the requirement for binary
notification data embedded in an email message?
Hopefully no one will respond with something like "because it would
be a nice/cool thing to do!" Such responders had better have the
latest, greatest flamesuit in their closet, all clean and pressed
and ready for action. ;-)
...jay
PS: By the way, the idea of using multi-part MIME for binary notification
messages is not new at all. I personally recall discussing this approach
well over a year ago with PWG folks. And, as I recall, there were no
compelling reasons to do it then, either.