On Jan 24, 2013, at 04:41, worley@xxxxxxxxxxx (Dale R. Worley) wrote: >> From: Carsten Bormann <cabo@xxxxxxx> >> >> I think in protocol evolution (as well as computer system evolution >> in general) we are missing triggers to get rid of vestigial >> features. > > That's quite true. Let us start by rationalizing the spelling and > punctuation of written English (which is the coding system for *this > entire discussion*). Once we've cleaned up that idiocy, we can start > in on SIP. I see I didn't make myself clear. I'm not suggesting we clean up vestigials in existing spec[ie]s, such as HTTP or SIP. (We might even do that, see HTTPbis, but only very carefully.) My point was about the case when we clone new stuff off existing protocols. (SIP was cloned off HTTP which was cloned off SMTP which was cloned off FTP which at least has had strong kinship with Telnet, hence all these use NVT.) Staying in your analogy: when you design a new language based on English, please do fix some of this stuff. (Maybe the analogy isn't that useful after all.) Actually, we haven't been that bad about this. E.g., we have been pretty good about getting rid of the madness of historic character coding by focusing on UTF-8 for new designs. What I'm asking for: Apart from these big reformation projects, we also should occasionally fix little things. When "inventing" new stuff by drawing analogies off of old specs. Grüße, Carsten