"Memory is cheap; bandwidth is cheaper"
-- Nathaniel Borenstein
Say what? CPU is cheaper than bandwidth? Fine.
But, like Chris said, programmers are far more expensive than either.
So whatever you do, go for interoperability and simplicity.
I'd be inclined to ask for GZIP with Base 64 because I can
plug a lot of lego blocks together at the higher level. This would
probably wind up as a Content-Type: application/gzip bundle, which
I don't particularly care for, but it saves on coding costs. You
scare me when you suggest zlib, because that's C that might give me
compiler/porting problems. (I run on a W-I-D-E range of platforms.)
What are we going to do to "get it right" when the
budget is against us?
--
Rick Troth at La Casita, Houston, Texas, USA
"When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl."