Not changing the prefix

[Erik van der Poel]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 8:58 AM, Andrew Sullivan <ajs at shinkuro.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 07:58:12AM -0800, Erik van der Poel wrote:
>> OK, but using a different prefix for all scripts and languages in
>> IDNA2008 would just be silly. Why would we disrupt all of the scripts
>> and languages that are served well by IDNA2003 and xn--?
>
> If we were to adopt another prefix -- which, as I've said, we should
> not do -- it would be because we changed the protocol and wanted to
> signal that we'd done so.  If the protocol changes to a new version,
> just because the pieces of it that you happen to be using aren't
> affected, doesn't mean your protocol doesn't change too.

The HTTP protocol was upgraded to 1.1. HTTP clients started using that version:

GET /hello.html HTTP/1.1

However, the servers didn't have to upgrade to 1.1 at the same time as
the clients:

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

Similarly, new IDNA2008 clients can interoperate with old xn-- labels.

Erik