Figure 2 summarizes each application, the protocol selected, and the client and server used. We feel we accomplished our open protocol goal as well as possible given the challenges presented to us and made compromises only when essential. For example, while the CIFS protocol is relatively closed (compared to, for example, NFS) it would not have been cost effective to replace the file service client software on the NT systems. In this case, simplicity suggested that we let clients use the protocol that they use best rather than shoehorn them into a new protocol. The ease of use features of NT's native printing system forced us to use it on clients but only to bring print jobs to a central machine that would store the jobs then forward them using an open protocol. Some protocols were in-house (stage) while others are experimental (the calendar-related protocols). Overall, we were able to build the environment we wanted and do so by using open protocols.
