[whatwg] some thoughts on bring HTTP upon UDP: iWebPP - instant web p2p technology

[Julian Reschke]

On 2012-03-14 13:10, tom wrote:
> Hi,
>
> AFAIK, WebRTC intends to setup P2P communication between browsers, then
> carry video/audio/text media, etc.
>
> Why we need WebRTC? Firstly, Web is the most popular network app, secondly,
> video/voice brings the best user experience.
> But, the problem is that HTTP runs on TCP by now, while P2P runs on UDP
> normally.
>
> Suppose both web browser and server can run HTTP upon UDP(the protocol
> schema as HTTPP), what happens?
> Firstly, Web app developers can program HTTPP like HTTP, secondly, P2P
> traffic can be carried on HTTPP easily.
>
> Basically iWebPP consists of two parts: HTTPP-enabled web browser and web
> server.
>
> Any thoughts? thanks.
> ...

Well, declaring that it should use UDP alone won't make it happen. It 
obviously will work nicely for small messages that are idempotent (so 
they can be retransmitted safely), but things get complicated beyond that.

There's also previous work to study; for instance Microsoft has used 
HTTP over UDP for notifications in the past.

A good place to bring this up might be the HTTPbis Working Group, which 
will be looking at what HTTP/2.0 might be very soon.

Best regards, Julian