Q:

Is WCF appropriate for implementing legacy network services?

I use the term network services to refer to things such as NNTP, IMAP, POP3... things which have a defined protocol layered on top of TCP/IP.
I'm having a very difficult time figuring out how I can connect to an existing network service using a WCF client.  I haven't found any examples other than ones that are basically using C#-ified socket code.
Can anyone refer me to any examples of using WCF to talk to a legacy service as something other than a glorified socket?
Is WCF even appropriate for this type of requirement?
Thanks.

A:

WCF comes with a set of standard bindings, here is a list of the bindings provided in 3.5:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms730879.aspx
If you need to use anything else, WCF is probably not the way to go. Even if you could build your own binding, the cost would outweigh the benefit.
If you have a requirement in your project that everything should use WCF, you could build a WCF facade over your sockets code.

