gsk@khaki.SGI.COM (George S. Kong) (03/30/88)
> >the basic idea of only brodcasting small descriptions of a program and > >allowing those interested to order it instead of mass distribution makes > >sense to me. > > NO NO NO !!!!!! > This would GREATLY INCREASE the trafic on the net. > Your scheme would see it being transmitted for everyone who requests a copy. this can be fixed with caching. whenever an actual binary passes through a given machine, that machine caches the file for a week or two and satisfies subsequent requests from the local copy. there are, of course, a host of issues to be addressed in implementing a strategy like this, but i think it has the potential both to improve the functionality (by providing universal automatic archiving) and to reduce both the transmission and storage costs of usenet significantly. unfortunately, i doubt that anyone's interested in doing the work necessary to make it happen. for brevity, i took some liberties in the way i quoted the above articles. i don't intend to mis-represent the authors; for their exact words, see: <1988Mar21.175120.4618@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu>, by adam@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Adam R. Iles) <345@c10sd1.StPaul.NCR.COM>, johnson@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Wayne D. T. Johnson) George S. Kong, Silicon Graphics, Inc., (415)962-3281 gsk@sgi.com ...{decwrl,allegra,sun,adobe,ucbvax,pyramid,ames}!sgi!gsk