Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!gandalf.cs.cmu.edu!lindsay
From: lindsay@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Paperless Office
Message-ID: <11191@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 25 Nov 90 23:37:25 GMT
References: <1990Nov16.234227.3246@cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 24


In article <1990Nov16.234227.3246@cs.cmu.edu> 
	spot@WOOZLE.GRAPHICS.CS.CMU.EDU (Scott Draves) writes:
>If the ideal display were announced tomorrow,
>paper would still exist because you can't get information from publishers
>in digital/on-line form.  This isn't being rectified as we speak, either.

Actually, it is. The ACM has announced its first CD-ROM, a single
disc containing eight years worth of Computing Reviews. Other CDs are
to follow, from ACM and from the IEEE.  It's simply the logical
extension to all those Technical Reports available by FTP.

I wouldn't mind devoting a cubic foot of my house to (say) everything
that the ACM ever published in its entire history. If optical tape
("digital paper") catches on, they might even publish the works on a
single 50 GB cartridge. I'm a year behind on some topics: a CD-of-
the-year club would work out nicely.

The downside is that ACM wants $799 for one CD. Since the fabrication
cost is perhaps $2 per CD, this is clearly cost-recovery.  We should
let our societies know that we expect this service, and that we
expect a price curve, down towards $2.
-- 
Don		D.C.Lindsay