> > Just so no one misunderstands, I think IPP as a front-end to a spooling
> > system is a great approach. It's just the spooler-to-printer protocol
> > that concerns me.
>
> Do you need a standard for this? Surely it is up to the spooler or
> spooler host OS manufacturer to negotiate with the the printer
> manufacuter.
Our customers are demanding a unified protocol between a spooling system
and a network printer. Similar to the concept of a "Universal Print Driver",
such a protocol would allow the same interface (or "filter", or "driver",
or whatever) to be used to communicate with potentially all kinds of
network printers.
By reducing the number of network techniques for getting the data from
the spooling server (or "client" in more general terms) to the printer,
then everyone wins. The user wins by having fewer software components
to maintain, and the printer vendor wins by having to support fewer
protocol implementations in the printer.
...jay
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-- JK Martin | Email: jkm@underscore.com --
-- Underscore, Inc. | Voice: (603) 889-7000 --
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