Common (platform independent) solution to send print jobs to a computer in any foreign network (e.g. via email)?

Question

Imagine a common "private" network with a printer which I technically cannot (and must not!) reach because I'm in a different network and I want to be able to print a file (pdf) on this printer. Example: I want to print a file at home of a friend of mine. Port forwarding etc. is not an option but I can send data through common "internet media channels" like email or chat.

Is there a way e.g. via a server running on this friends computer (running windows XP..8) to print files via mail or chat?

I think it would not very difficult to write a small python program which listens on an email account for incoming "print jobs" via file attachments an prints them e.g. via ghostscript or acrobat reader.

Would be nice to have a platform independent solution but this service has to be available at least on Windows.

Note: Automatic email printing from Outlook is not an option. I have to be able to just start the "printer computer" without logging in to run the described service.

Addon: As commented, services like Google Cloud Print would be exactly the solution I'm looking for but you would give your (or your company's) IP to the cloud provider which is sub-optimal for me.

Answer 1

Not endorsing the product, but Namtuk's Automatic Email Manager might be what you're looking for. Runs as a Windows service (your due diligence would be required in order to ensure you're not sending data to a third party) and does what you want it to do. Not sure if it covers your have to be able to just start the "printer computer" part, nor how it deals with the client being closed, although it supports webmail services such as Yahoo!, GMail and others, which leads me to "assume" that it's client independent. But I have no personal experience with the program.

Hope it helps somewhat..