Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!utcsri!utegc!utai!ubc-vision!van-bc!sl From: sl@van-bc.UUCP Newsgroups: can.general Subject: Re: Status of Canadian domain Message-ID: <1263@van-bc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 31-Dec-69 18:59:59 EDT Article-I.D.: van-bc.1263 Posted: Wed Dec 31 18:59:59 1969 Date-Received: Mon, 24-Aug-87 01:35:32 EDT References: <8708190102.AA05431@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> <298@ncrcan.UUCP> <8708211151.AA16007@ephemeral.ai.toronto.edu> <54@ncc.UUCP> <917@looking.UUCP> Reply-To: sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) Distribution: can Organization: Public Access Network, Vancouver, BC. Lines: 88 In article <917@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes: >There is nothing wrong with having multiple logical addressing schemes. >There should be such. > >But one consistent scheme must always be present. That's the scheme you >use when you try and "figure out" how to mail somebody. No. The whole idea behind computer based routing is to be able to give someone a name (address) that you can send messages to. The mail system should be able to find out the *current* place to send those messages to and route them accordingly. > >If you wanted to get mail to somebody, what would be easiest to work out? >I maintain that this is the geographical scheme. Usually if you know one >thing about somebody, it's the town they live in. You need this if you want >to mail a postal letter, or find their phone number. Even if you already >know the number, the town is coded within it. > >This has nothing to do with the routing underneath. This is just how >I think we usually associate people. The problem here is that if you move then you must change your domain (address). If you have your domain independant of your physical address then there is a good chance that even in your new physical position your messages can still be sent to the same domain name (address). > >Sometimes you think of people as belonging to orgnanizations. "That's >John from Mitel" you might say. But you also probably know that Mitel's >main computer is in Ottawa. The emphasis with X.400 and X.DS has been and is organizational. This means that you can send letters to entities based on their position in an organization heirarchy based on organizational attributes (name, position, department, etc). You could (hopefully) even send messages like president@ATT.com, or qualitycontrol@ibm.com. These types of heirarchies do not map well to private individuals in their capacity as private citizens instead of their job's. This is probably because personal computers are just not as big a part of society in Europe as they are here. Especially when these standards were being developed (late seventies, early eighties). The emphasis then was on providing electronic mail for the people who had computers, business, and the result is quite workable there. Other types of heirarchies must be developed to support private citizens. Remember the emphasis should be on giving out domain names which allow some "n" way splitting at the top where n is a small integer (less than a thousand say). And such that they won't have to change their domain names very often, if ever. Wouldn't it be nice (well maybe) if your mail could find you wherever you are or go, for the rest of your life. No more change of address cards -- ever! One method which might work is your country and prov/stat of birth. E.g. Stuart.Lynne.man.ca Or (heaven forbid) you could use your S.I.N. or similiar number (drivers license). Stuart.Lynne.2845769.bc.can > >The one, consistent scheme that everybody understands is geography. >Organizational and company related schemes are haphazard and difficult to >follow. > >For far down the line, a geographical domain structure is the only way to >go. Now, while the number of email users is small, we can use other schemes >as we like, but they will damn us later. No, farther down the line, the probable method is a unique (world wide) number. The number would be unique and the sender would use hints to help mail servers find you. Stuart.Lynne 883-223-4111-a2-333 country=ca prov=bc city=vancouver Anyhow there is no clear direction right now about which is the *right* way to do things. We're still having too much fun experimenting. -- {ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision,uunet}!van-bc!Stuart.Lynne Vancouver,BC,604-937-7532