[webteam] XML files for public transports

[Sander Devrieze]

Hi,

I may be wrong, but I guess lists with public transports in XML format
(similar to the servers list) could be useful to improve usability of
XMPP clients, especially when transport-less XMPP servers like
gmail.com or jabber.org are involved. IMO this is *one* of the
requirements to get XMPP clients on par with multiprotocol clients.

This is a use case:
A user wants to register his MSN account. Instead of having to do
geeky things like "service discovering" he (or she) can *always*
select the Add MSN Account option; *even* when his current XMPP server
does not has any MSN transport. After selecting this option, a dialog
will open where the user can immediately register with the transport
on his own server. If however no MSN transport on the server is
detected, the XMPP client of the user will first download the latest
msn-transports.xml file from the Net and will randomly select one of
the public MSN transports in the file.

Other remarks:
* Server admins with public transports need to submit these transports
(or maybe public transports should be detected automatically?)
* The *-transport.xml files also can be used by uptime monitoring bots
which can test if all transports are still available and *working*! If
not, it would be extremely sexy if the XML file is updated
automatically.
* I guess (but may be wrong) that this can help to get more and better
public transports.

Would something like this be possible and beneficial?

-- 
Mvg, Sander Devrieze.