Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.7.0.8 $; site ccvaxa Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece From: preece@ccvaxa.UUCP Newsgroups: net.news.group Subject: Re: Doomsday cometh? Are you sure? Message-ID: <3500010@ccvaxa> Date: Mon, 16-Sep-85 10:21:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ccvaxa.3500010 Posted: Mon Sep 16 10:21:00 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 19-Sep-85 04:05:52 EDT References: <863@burl.UUCP> Lines: 30 Nf-ID: #R:burl.UUCP:-86300:ccvaxa:3500010:000:1491 Nf-From: ccvaxa.UUCP!preece Sep 16 09:21:00 1985 > The reason I presume the influx of small machines will degrade netnews > is quite clear. They could easily outnumber all of the big machines in > a very short order and represent many thousands of new users. /* > Written 12:37 pm Sep 10, 1985 by lauren@vortex.UUCP in > ccvaxa:net.news.group */ ---------- Not to deny that the net is unlikely to continue in its present form, but I think there's a logical inconsistency here. The small machines deluge consists of small machines, with only one or a few users. It's hard to see how they're going to have much effect on the net compared to the big sites with hundreds of users each. They WILL have an effect on the nature of the net, though: it will be harder and harder to find feeds. The current distribution method, coupled with the current volume, makes feeding to small sites just as expensive as feeding to large sites. It's hard to see how even the friendliest news feed could go on supplying feeds to all who ask when there are dozens or hundreds of one-user Unix sites in the local environment. Much as I dislike the idea of mandatory oversight that has been proposed for stargate, I think some kind of mass distribution system is going to turn up eventually, operating over some kind of high bandwidth medium. Cable tv? FM radio? Whatever. Then everybody can get the bulk feed and the only phone costs will be for passing messages into the distribution. -- scott preece gould/csd - urbana ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece