Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.tcp-ip:16601 comp.archives.admin:55 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!hsdndev!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.archives.admin Subject: Re: building an interstate (data) highway with no roadmaps Message-ID: <16375.Jun1902.53.1591@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Date: 19 Jun 91 02:53:15 GMT References: <9106171612.AA01441@mazatzal.merit.edu> <1991Jun19.001411.5396@mel.dit.csiro.au> Organization: IR Lines: 20 Instead of complaining about how inappropriate X.500 is for all but the simplest problems, why don't we identify the problems we're really trying to solve? I think that the Internet People Problem---make a *usable* database of people on the Internet---embodies most, if not all, of the technical and political difficulties that an archive service has to overcome. You want to find that vocrpt package? I want to find Don Shearson Jr. You want to find a SLIP-over-the-phone package? I want to find a SLIP-over-the-phone expert. You want to know where you got this collection of poems? I want to know where I got this phone number. You want to see what everyone thinks of vocrpt now that you've found it? DISCO wants to get references for Shearson from anyone who's willing to admit he's worked with him. One advantage of starting from the Internet People Problem is that it has a lot more prior art than the archive problem, from telephone directories on up. Once we've solved it we can see how well the same mechanisms handle data retrieval. ---Dan