[Zope-dev] Impact of additional protocols handled by Zope?

[Jeff Kowalczyk]

I'm curious what the impact on overall performance would be if products
eventually came into existence that extended Zope to directly handle
additional protocols and their data requirements, primarily intended for
low-volume workgroup kind of traffic.

Jabber, IMAP and LDAP are the ones that come to mind immediately, since
you'd be that much closer to having Zope fulfill a role that MS Exchange
really doesn't; inexpensive, easily maintained groupware for small
organizations that need custom workflow app development.

Is it practical to consider that Zope might extend into other protocols
this way, and can it be done with modular products, or does integration
require deep Zope modifications (beyond adding a few lines to Z2.py?)

Just a hypothetical, I guess. FWIW, it would be really cool to see a
general, host-a-protocol-here hook for plugin products as Zope3 takes
shape, configuration in the ZMI if the product writer goes that far.
Something that would define a standard interface for Zope3 events to
respond to signals the protocol handler might generate, and vice-versa.