Low-level XML Protocol activity announced by the XCP Consortium

Many of you know me as an editor of the XHTML recommendations.  In addition to that work, I have been working with a separate group of people on an exciting new XML-based protocol - XCP (the XCL Control Protocol).  That work has finally matured enough that we have made it public and are actively seeking input.  Here is a excerpt from the web site:

XCP - the XML Control Protocol - is a drop in replacement for traditional Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP. XCP has many advantages, some of which are outlined in our rationale section. With the advent of XCP/IP, connection-oriented networking will finally move from the legacy environment of inscrutable bits and bytes to a structured, human-readable world relying upon XML.  XCP is the first 4th Generation Protocol, or 4GP.  It is designed for a networking environment that is very fast and very reliable - the Internet of today!

We understand that the TAG has examined the use of HTTP as a substrate protocol (c.f.:  http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/issues.html#HTTPSubstrate-16 - "HTTPSubstrate-16: Should HTTP be used as a substrate protocol? Does W3C agree with RFC 3205?")  XCP is in fact directly targeted at being such a protocol.  However, it is not completely clear to us how this will dovetail with your existing "Architecture of the World Wide Web" document.  We see from the document (at http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/#xml-formats) that you envision evolution like this - and we think that our approach is consistent with your guidelines, as well as with those from the IETF's document "Guidelines for the Use of XML within IETF Protocols" (http://www.imc.org/ietf-xml-use/xml-guidelines-07.txt).  However, we would like to see a deeper focus on XML-based protocols in your document - you can consider that a last call comment if you like.

I guess I would appreciate it if the TAG, in its role as keepers of the internet architecture, could examine the XCP architecture at http://www.x-cp.org and think about ways that it can be enhanced to become more consistent with the W3C's view of the web.  Think of this as a "last call" period for XCP - we are putting together sample implementations and getting people to deploy it now, but it is not too late to ensure we cleanly support the TAG's vision of the Internet - and vice-versa.

-- 
Shane P. McCarron                          
Lead Editor, W3C HTML Working Group

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