[webteam] XML files for public transports

[Robert Martinez]

Sander Devrieze wrote:
> 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?
>
>   
Making transports more user friendly is good.

Yet I'm a bit concerned that pushing it too far will make people think 
that it is a core feature of XMPP (and link it with xmpp if it does not 
work!).

Since the setup of a transport means giving away credentials about your 
account, you might not want to give those away to a random server so 
quickly. You would need to explain users where this data is going to be 
stored, this will be confusing.

In the end I thing the benefit will not outweigh the downside of the effort.
I'd focus my activity on making people switch because of other reasons.

just my opinion.