Need email server aid

[Christopher Chan]

On Friday, April 30, 2010 01:46 AM, Alvin Thompson wrote:
> On 04/29/2010 12:45 AM, Christopher Chan wrote:
>>> Specious. You would have to resolve exactly those same issues if you
>>> used HTTP or a custom protocol. The only difference is that you would
>>> have to write any reliability code yourself.
>>
>> 1) Nobody uses http for discovering other devices and I never said that.
>
> That's funny, because I don't remember ever saying that people used SMTP
> for discovering other services, either. Yet you somehow thought it was a
> valid argument when *you* used it JUST ONE POST AGO:
>
> <quote who="Christopher Chan>
> Hahaha, you have got to be kidding. How are you supposed to discover
> other devices via smtp to get peer-to-peer working?
> </quote>

Maybe for those who don't understand English very well this might be 
misconstrued as believing smtp can be used for discovering other devices.


>
> So back to my original point which, of course, you never addressed: You
> would have to resolve exactly those same issues if you used HTTP or a
> custom protocol. The only difference is that you would have to write any
> reliability code yourself.

Amazing that there is not a protocol today that does discovery that is 
unicast like http and smtp. Perhaps Alvin the Great Software Engineer 
will be the one to come up with the first unicast protocol that does 
discovery.


>
>> 2) There are custom protocols that eventually became standard protocols
>> for discovering other devices. That is what switches and routers use
>> today. If email or smtp were suitable to this task, they would long ago
>> have used it or extended it for this purpose. Call it specious all you
>> like, no one is ever going to use smtp or email for peer to peer
>> communication between devices except maybe you.
>
> First of all, so your argument really is, "you shouldn't do it because
> nobody has done it before?"

Of course. You are free to take all the glory by coming up with the 
first unicast protocol that is used for peer-to-peer discovery. It is 
not like it is not impossible I know.


>
> Second, I've already told you several times that people (not just I)
> have done it before. You simply choose not to believe it. People have
> also invented machines that allow them to fly. Do you choose not to
> believe that as well?

Too bad you are the only example of someone claiming to use smtp for 
remote control. Since you say that people have done it before, then feel 
free to provide links.


>
>> What's the matter? You cannot even say a simple yes, I use smtp to
>> remote control my web services/servlets or no, I actually just send
>> reports only at the moment?
>
> I've already answered that several times, including IN THE PREVIOUS
> POST. Once again, pretending you never heard something is not the best
> way to win an argument.
>

Yeah, yeah, I have no interest in winning an argument. In fact, feel 
free to prove me wrong with some evidence of people using smtp for 
remote control.