Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!seismo!sundc!newstop!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: No more Cinemaware stuff for Amiga !!!????
Message-ID: <121390@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 14 Aug 89 22:05:53 GMT
References: <346@eagle.wesleyan.edu> <1523@ndmath.UUCP> <514@morgoth.UUCP>
Sender: news@sun.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 41

In article <514@morgoth.UUCP> steve@morgoth.UUCP (Steve Hall) writes:
>...  I would imagine that to put data on a CD would cost about the same.
>						-= Steve =-

It used to be the reason CD-ROMs were so expensive compared to audio
disks, was that the mastering process was a lot tougher. On an audio
disk you just record a bunch of stuff to tape, and then dump the tape
to a master, and poof ready to roll CD disks. But for data disks you
have to set up the data, index it in some way. This requires that you
have access to all of it, and be able to change it, and that means a
500Mb magnetic disk that could "pretend" it was a CD until you were
ready to master it. With current SCSI technology you can do this for
under $3K, it used to be you needed a mini like a Sun or VAX to just
handle the data. Of course once you get all the data together the 
indexing process can be slow at best. For hypertext like applications
you want to make sure related information is on physically "near" tracks
and the index stuff has to be pretty well filled in to make the disk
useful. Unfortunately, this is neither a simple problem, nor does 
the average human being deal with 500MB of information well. Based on
playing with these things I personally believe the *total* capacity of
a single persons brain is about 1GB, and we use a lot of compression
techniques (like algorithmic recreation of data) to make stuff fit. 
Anyway, tools are needed today to help with this indexing process. Some
things like encyclopedias already have a hundred thousand man hours of
indexing effort expended so can be transferred fairly cheaply, as do 
things like the OED. But other stuff, like everything you wanted to 
know about Sailing, or Chemistry haven't had the extensive work and
are thus 5 year projects using the current tools. (Based to the estimate
Time-Life uses to create a "new" encyclopedia series). So while the 
mastering/duplication cost might be 1.50 a pop for 1,000 you have to
pay 10 people for a year to index the darn thing and that's gonna 
cost at least $500,000. Anyway, if you or anyone else can come up
with some good tools you could sell them for $50,000 a copy and 
the people like Time-Life would buy them without even blinking an
eye. Big market for some dedicated entrepreneur...


--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
"A most excellent barbarian ... Genghis Kahn!"