HTTP never had a store-and-forward protocol architecture, so all
the proxy stuff got tacked on. SMTP dealt with it from the beginning
and already addressed the problems of MITM, tracing, etc. It is,
in fact, the strawman reference model for much of our OPES discussion.
There's an odd recursive aspect to applying OPES to SMTP, and I think
it is important to clarify why SMTP will benefit from OPES, sort of
like asking why one's grandparents should buy their clothes at
Banana Republic (whatever).
Hilarie
-----Snippet of Original Message-----
From: Alex Rousskov
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: SMTP Use Cases
I may be repeating myself, but I still do not know how store-and-forward
SMTP is different from whatever-you-want-to-call-it HTTP in the context of
adapting content. Thus, for me, SMTP adaptation can be within OPES scope
if HTTP adaptation is. Using your example above, exactly the same argument
can be made for HTTP: why not forward the messages to an HTTP proxy where
the "service enhancements" can be applied...
Alex.