Options for real-time web notifications and updates using Comet/XMPP vs WebSocket technologies on a Microsoft stack?

Question

I am scoping out the architectural options for a project that will render live updates (like Facebook) of user activities - logins, photos, etc. Two main UI components of t

Answer 1

For reasons incl. those already stated above, I'd go with WebSockets.

If you go with WebSockets, you might also consider Autobahn WebSockets, a high-performance WS server that supports Windows where it runs on top of IOCP (I/O completion ports).

The latter is important if you want to scale to large connection numbers (hundred thousands).

Disclaimer: I am author of Autobahn WebSockets. The base tech is OSS. We are currently preparing a commercial offering, a real-time messaging hub provided as a virtual appliance (runs on VMware/sphere) .. completely integrated, hardened appliance. The latter also allows you to push notification via the hub using a plain old HTTP/POST .. it has a REST API that allows you to dispatch to clients connected via WS. If you are interested in private beta testing, contact me ..