ietf-openproxy
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Re: Modified Example Services Draft

2000-12-04 13:13:42
Given that most visually impaired users would likely already have some 
screen reading technology, perhaps the scope of the html->audio might be 
more useful as text augmentation to aid the screen reader?

Just thinking from the point of view of the end user benefits, there seems 
to be two broad classes of service - those that could in principle be 
performed by client software, and those that can't.

Services that can be local:

services such as transcoding/translation, ad-stripping, and content 
resizing, refactoring can all potentially be performed on the client. 
Reasons why users may prefer to use proxy-based services include:

Processor power (especially for edge devices - PDA's and the like).
Cost (per use service charge rather than paying for a rarely used 
Mongolian<->English translation module).
Remote administration (many people would rather phone their ISP than try 
and configure text-voice software themselves).
Security

Most of these points have been raised elsewhere, but I don't recall 
discussion of the benefit of remote administration. For example, many 
people have anti-virus software but fail to keep it up to  date. Remote 
adminstration of software upgrades of virus, transcoding and translating 
software would be a compelling benefit for  many users (and hence a 
product-differentiator for ISPs providing the service).

Proxy-only  services:
Services that can in principle only be performed on the proxy include 
performance related services such as caching and content-stripping for 
low-bandwith connections, and services that provide users with information 
not available otherwise - for example a search engine on locally cached 
pages could be enhanced by  modifying the search field on popular search 
engines to a drop-down box displaying recently used key words (with 
obvious privacy caveats).