On Wed Mar 2 12:00:42 2011, Gregg Vanderheiden wrote:
Should vs Optional
Should was used because, although they can be safely omitted (the
technology would still work in message mode), they are important to
certain classes of users. So we should include these features in
mainstream applications - both so that people who need them can use
mainstream apps and so that they can call everyone else who is
using the mainstream apps.
Just to pick up on this:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119 says (extracts):
3. SHOULD This word, or the adjective "RECOMMENDED", mean that there
may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a
particular item, but the full implications must be understood and
carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
5. MAY This word, or the adjective "OPTIONAL", mean that an item is
truly optional. One vendor may choose to include the item because
a
particular marketplace requires it or because the vendor feels that
it enhances the product while another vendor may omit the same
item.
An implementation which does not include a particular option MUST
be
prepared to interoperate with another implementation which does
include the option, though perhaps with reduced functionality. In
the
same vein an implementation which does include a particular option
MUST be prepared to interoperate with another implementation which
does not include the option (except, of course, for the feature the
option provides.)
6. Guidance in the use of these Imperatives
Imperatives of the type defined in this memo must be used with care
and sparingly. In particular, they MUST only be used where it is
actually required for interoperation or to limit behavior which has
potential for causing harm (e.g., limiting retransmisssions) For
example, they must not be used to try to impose a particular method
on implementors where the method is not required for
interoperability.
I can see you're describing marketplace benefits, but I don't see an
interoperability issue, so I suggest you need to find alternative
language to describe the intent, here.
Dave.
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