On 9 March 2016 at 10:46, Tim Hare <[email protected]> wrote: > I was at SHARE and attended a session about the new HTTP client service - a > callable service built into the BCP to allow programs to be HTTP clients and > retrieve information over the HTTP protocol. > > I thought of another useful service that could use some of the same > components of the HTTP protocol, which would be to allow programs to send > Short Message Service messages - also known as text messages. My proposed use > case is only outbound, for mobile notifications of things - perhaps an > accounting threshold is crossed by a transaction, or an automated operations > tool wants to immediately notify someone of a critical situation. > > I created an RFE on developerworks for this - if you'd like to follow it or > think it'd be useful and want to vote for it, I believe the number is 85091 > (my first RFE so I'm unsure), and the link is here: > > https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=85091
Two comments: First one is to IBM, not you. It's extremely annoying and what I once upon a time would have called "unprofessional" to present me with a developerworks web page that requires me to UNcheck three boxes to avoid (1) Signing up for a Bluemix trial, (2) signing up to receive junk email, (3) signing up to receive junk phone calls. In fact I failed to uncheck the Bluemix box (actually clicked it twice, I think), and now I'm getting excited mail about my trial. I'm sure there'll be reminders and such any time soon. Come on IBM, you can surely do better. :-( Second, on your RFE: I'm not sure that SMPP is really much in use these days. We looked at it two or three years ago, and discovered that while all the SMS providers claim to support it, in fact when you talk to them it is deprecated at most of them in favour of their own HTTP/JSON/XML style approaches instead. Perhaps most important, there is no security, i.e. no SMPPS or equivalent. So I'm not sure this RFE goes in the right direction. Maybe there *should* be a modern and secure standard SMPP, but there doesn't seem to be. There is also an argument that SMS itself is going out of style. As all phones become smart phones, people are increasingly using apps that present a user interface a lot like the conversational "text messages" people are used to, but are actually using mobile data to send them. Personally I use the Signal app from the famous Moxie Marlinspike at thoughtcrime.org, and there are others with various business models, from Google Hangouts to Facebook to Whatsapp - most of which plan to "monetize" your messages in some way or other. Tony H. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
