Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!aurora!labrea!agate!ucbvax!BU-CS.BU.EDU!bzs
From: bzs@BU-CS.BU.EDU (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Uses of CDROMS / WORMS
Message-ID: <8802040343.AA23106@bu-cs.bu.edu>
Date: 4 Feb 88 03:43:27 GMT
References: <5267@columbia.edu>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 40


[Re: Simson L. Garfinkel's message]

Although you're correct in saying that a database which fits on a
CD/ROM can be stamped out for $40 (if we ignore the $200K+ for the
stamping machine) I can't help but want to include the price of the
reader in that (I guess around $1K.) I know in some environments (eg.
PCs in a library) it's reasonable to think people would just load in
what they're interested in, much like a microfiche room.

In more distributed environments it seems I either need to leave
particular CDs on-line at all times or get operators or machines to
mount them.  Even jukeboxes don't seem to go very far if people really
are vying for the read heads, who wants to wait several minutes to
look something up?  You really need close to one read head per CD in
such environments (perhaps those are just not right uses for CDs? But
they are the environments many of us are in, shared resources etc.)

Don't I want to access this stuff in my office/home etc w/o having to
buy a reader and dozens if not hundreds of CD Roms? I believe the
going price to people like me of those CDs is upwards of a few hundred
dollars each (I know some are less, but the useful ones seem to cost
about that), not $40 (cost of materials, basically.)

>For example, at Columibia I can now walk into the library and do a Lexis,
>Medline, GSI or Readers' Guide search for free, because we have those databases
>on CDROM.  That wouldn't be possible with 1GB magnetic winchesters, no matter
>how cheap they are, because you still have to get the data.

This paragraph I don't understand. They weren't free, the library
bought them. Our student computers here are just as "free", if I put a
few extra GB disks on them and loaded them with those DBs how would
that differ? And next year I can just rewrite them, and put other
stuff on them (eg. netnews) that doesn't come in CD form.

I am being a devil's advocate here but I'm trying to see what kinds of
answers people give to these questions, not sure I'm satisfied with my
own.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University