Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.tcp-ip:16574 comp.archives.admin:50 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!compass!worley From: worley@compass.com (Dale Worley) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.archives.admin Subject: Re: building an interstate (data) highway with no roadmaps Message-ID: Date: 18 Jun 91 13:49:57 GMT References: <9106171612.AA01441@mazatzal.merit.edu> Sender: root@compass.com Organization: Compass, Inc., Wakefield, MA, U.S.A. Lines: 39 In-reply-to: emv@msen.com's message of 18 Jun 91 04:03:49 GMT In article emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: X.500 services are directory oriented. The data in them is relatively small, of known value, and highly structured. Information about archive sources is just about completely counter to these basic principles. X.500 is a holy grail, there's a lot of money which seems to be being thrown at it these days in the hope to make it useful. What can be done to produce good catalogs? As Ed notes, archive information is likely to be bulky, chaotic, and of unknown (probably small) value. Given how much money is needed to get a directory system for information without these problems running, it will probably take much more to get a good system for archive information working. Perhaps the analogy to road maps can be a guide -- Roads have been around for thousands of years, but road maps have only been available for fifty(?) years. What happened? One thing is that it is now possible to make a map and then sell thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of copies, thus making each copy reasonably inexpensive. Until the development of the automobile this was not possible, there were too few potential users. (Or even necessary, since a horse cart is slow enough that stopping to ask directions in each town isn't a burden.) One possibility is to make a service that charges you for use. A good archive information system should see enough use that each query can be quite inexpensive. And the authorization and billing should be easy enough to automate! Dale Worley Compass, Inc. worley@compass.com -- Perhaps this excerpt from the pamphlet, "So You've Decided to Steal Cable" (as featured in a recent episode of _The_Simpsons_) will help: Myth: Cable piracy is wrong. Fact: Cable companies are big faceless corporations, which makes it okay.